Nemesis: Resident Evil III
by Liquid
Summary: Raccoon City has fallen, and now former STARS member Jill Valentine has one last chance to escape with her life. Joining with a group of Umbrella Mercenaries, she must traverse the infected city, all while fleeing from a terrifying and intelligent monster that cannot be killed... and that is hunting her specifically.
1. Chapter 1 Yesterday

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter One: Yesterday**

What a nice day, Jill Valentine thought to herself as she got out of bed. What a nice _normal_ day in Raccoon City, a nice, _normal_ place where nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. She knew that today was going to be a good day because not only had she managed to wake up in time to shut the alarm clock off before it went off, but her long brown hair somehow hadn't got all messed up while sleeping, and as a _bonus_ the hot water pressure in the shower of her apartment was just… _amazing_.

Yes, this was going to be her day, the young woman just _knew_ it, especially when there was a full tank of gas in her car after she was dressed and ready, and there was no line when she stopped at Emmy's Café for her favorite breakfast of a buttered raisin bagel with the largest size coffee that the small restaurant was capable of providing. Traffic was good, too, with everyone seeming to be in a pleasant mood, and it was the same when she walked into the Raccoon City Police Department.

There were no struggling, fighting criminals being dragged toward the holding cells, and everyone that Jill passed on the way to the STARS office, where she worked, was smiling and waving to her when she said hello to them. Everything was so clean and smelling good as she walked down the different corridors, as if the cleaning crew had just finished the best job of their careers, and the air wasn't stale at all, as if the windows had been allowed to be left open for once. Hell, even the metal emblem on that wall that read _Special Tactics and Rescue Service_ was highly shined as she opened the door to the office.

Everyone was there, smiling and happy like the others as they sat at their desks, diligently writing reports and doing other typical office tasks while waiting for a call to come. Today, though, the young woman knew that there wouldn't be one… today there wouldn't be any crime at all in Raccoon City. There was just her and Chris Redfield, her partner who had the desk right next to hers… and there was nothing strange at all about him having his shirt off, especially since the two of them were suddenly alone in the office… where had everyone gone? Did it matter?

No, it didn't matter… what mattered was when Chris put his big, muscular arms around her waist and picked the young woman up so that she was sitting on her desk. He was now running his fingers through her hair, using his other arm to pull her so that she was right up against him, pulling her head back to expose her neck… and then Jill's eyes snapped open. The STARS office and Chris Redfield were gone, replaced by a much smaller and dirtier office with a single fluorescent light fixture that was blinking rapidly.

Instead of sitting on her desk, the young woman was sitting in front of a different one, clearly having fallen asleep in the world's most uncomfortable office chair with her head tilted back so that her neck was actually sore when she tried to sit up. Sunlight was coming in through the small window on the wall next to her, allowing Jill to see the piles of disorganized shipping manifests that covered the desk and spilled out of the nearby filing cabinets that she had seen after finding her way into this place the previous day.

Suddenly choked up by the hard grip of reality as she remembered everything that had happened, the young woman picked up her bottle of water, and drinking just enough of the warm liquid to keep herself from coughing… and then growling in frustration as she threw it across the room, since it was now empty. For a second she thought about simply going to the store and buying another one, but that was quite impossible, given the current state of Raccoon City. So she put her hands on her head, looking down at her filthy jeans and bloodied t-shirt as recent events played through her mind.

After she and the other surviving members of STARS returned from the mission to the Spencer Estate, where the truth of the horrific experiments being conducted by the Umbrella Corporation was revealed, she and the others found themselves getting suspended from duty _pending further investigation_. Regardless of the deaths of their teammates, the betrayal of their leader, Captain Albert Wesker, and the eye-witness accounts which all of them told in exactly the same way… RPD Chief of Police Brian Irons punished _them_.

Part of her expected this; after all there was absolutely no proof thanks to the whole mansion exploding, and Umbrella did provide employment to more than a third of the city, and that was that. Ordered to turn over their badges, firearms, and keys, Jill had simply been too tired after the whole ordeal to fight any more, so she just went home and went to sleep… at least she didn't have to get up early for work the next day, right?

Rebecca Chambers, the rookie and only survivor of STARS Bravo Team, left town the next day without so much as a word, while Barry Burton, who would have taken over as STARS Captain if not for the suspension, packed up his wife and two daughters and headed north. After they had been used against him by Wesker, it was no surprise that he was hiding them somewhere, and that was the last time she saw him, too. As for Chris Redfield, who had to be physically restrained from attacking the Chief, well… he said he was going to continue the investigation of Umbrella and just… just left.

The only member of STARS who hadn't gotten in any trouble was Brad Vickers, the pilot who had abandoned them to die in the forest, only to pull them out of the fire at the last possible second. Since he hadn't actually been inside the mansion with them, and couldn't corroborate anything they were saying, he was allowed to continue working at the department… he was lucky Chris hadn't shot him after the pilot hadn't said anything in their defense.

Oh, well, fuck it… the mansion had been destroyed, and Umbrella's virus-driven bullshit was over, right? Well, that was what the young woman had foolishly allowed herself to believe while sitting on the couch in her apartment for a couple months. She knew that she probably should have gone with Chris to keep hunting down Umbrella's secrets or whatever, but honestly she needed time to process everything that had happened to them, and after seeing what the company had done to their own people in that lab… she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to jump right into all that again.

For a while all was fine, and life continued on as normal in Raccoon City, at least until early September, when the riots started. At least, that was what the news was calling the outbreak of violence that started at the north end of the city and worked its way south regardless of the RPD's efforts to contain the perpetrators. Looking back on it all, Jill felt that she should have been able to put it all together, but maybe she was just in denial… denial, or perhaps desperately hoping that it was just another urban riot like what had happened in places like Detroit at one time.

Well, it wasn't, and maybe if the young woman had tried to get out of Raccoon City a single day earlier she could have made it, but no, instead she tried to help what remained of the RPD Officers make what was probably their last stand against the exact thing she had warned them about. The awful truth was that these were not drug addicts who were attacking people on the streets and in their homes… but the _infected_ … the same infected people that she had seen in the halls of the Spencer Estate.

There had been word that the US Army was putting up barricades around the perimeter of the city to contain this incident, and that was great… except for the fact that herself and the others who were trying to put a barricade of cars together to stop the advancing horde were trapped in the middle of the uptown district. Trying to get as many of the panicked survivors to safety as they could… wherever _safety_ was… Jill was given a pistol by one of her uniformed friends, and the battle for the last district of Raccoon City had begun.

All over the city there had been fires and car crashes as people tried to flee or fight off the infected, resulting in a lot of streets and buildings becoming inaccessible, so there really wasn't a lot of maneuvering room once the groaning monsters came into view. Now the only sound was gunfire as everyone on the barricade began shooting, and a lot of the _zombies_ , as Chris called them, collapsed into pools of discolored blood. Things became a little easier once they started listening to her advice to _shoot them in the head_ instead of just targeting anywhere, but… but God there were more infected people than the RPD had bullets.

A few minutes later the gunfire stopped as everyone ran out of ammo, but the zombies still advanced, shambling right over the remains of their brethren, and although many stopped to, uh… _feed_ on the fallen dead, the majority threw themselves right over the barricade of cars, and that was when the screaming began. The Officers of the RPD fought valiantly… at least the ones who didn't run away screaming, but those valiant warriors were quickly tackled to the ground and devoured, and the cowards… well, they weren't too far behind.

Eventually there was no way to keep fighting, so the young woman screamed for the remaining survivors to fall back with her, leading them into a small back alley while the infected gave chase. One of the remaining cops grabbed a frightened girl and forced her to get in front of him as a shield when they were cornered, but that only bought him a few extra seconds of life… a few seconds that allowed Jill to get the others through the narrow passage between two buildings, where hopefully they would be safe.

Unfortunately, once they had reached the three way junction at the other side, the _was_ a partially cleared road waiting for them, but both ways were occupied by zombies who noticed them very quickly thanks to all the loud noise that the frightened civilians were making. Trapped, with the infected slowly shambling toward them from both ways down the road, as well as from the direction from which they came, and Jill… had… _one_ … bullet… left.

Even with all the experience that she had dealing with these things, she knew that one or two zombies were difficult to fight off at close range, and if there was more than that… forget about it. The infected, with their discolored skin, white glazed over eyes, and bloody mouths from previous victims, were getting closer, and the screams from the survivors around her were _not_ helping the young woman think of a way out… maybe the fire escape? No, the ladder was too high up, even if someone stood on another's shoulders.

No, that wouldn't work, and the zombies were getting closer, so close that the young woman was startled when she backed into a wall… a wall that moved? It was metal with a grooved surface, shaking when she hit against it, so she turned around and gasped when she saw that it was a metal rollup door like the ones found in the shipping areas of warehouses. _Bang_! The door was padlocked, but the last bullet in her pistol took care of that, and once she started lifting the gate, the survivors began to push and fight to be the first ones through.

More screams as a man who had been knocked backwards by the fist of another, was grabbed by the nearest zombie, but thankfully Jill was able get to him in time to help. _Whack_! Striking the monster with her pistol in the forehead just as it was about to bite the man's neck, she gave it a kick to the stomach, making the infected stumble backwards until falling, while the two of them ran for the door. As soon as they were inside, Jill and the others worked together to slam it back down into place, wrapping the chain around a nearby pipe so that it couldn't be pulled open again by the monsters who were snarling and banging against the other side.


	2. Chapter 2 No Help Coming

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Two: No Help Coming**

Safe for the moment? Maybe, Jill thought as she used the large office windows to overlook the rest of the warehouse where she and the others were taking shelter. The office itself was one of those models where it was the only thing on the second floor of the building with the rest being an open floor plan, connected by a staircase of grated metal so that the supervisor could have no problem lording over their workers. This also allowed the young woman to see the entire building at once, and… things were not promising.

From the window she could see that although there were no zombies inside with the survivors, nor was there any obvious way for them to get in on their own, there was also a complete lack of provisions. No one was sure just how the T-Virus had spread throughout Raccoon City, so risking the use of a drinking fountain or sink was probably a bad idea since it might very well be in the water, but other than an empty water cooler for employees and the bottle Jill had just discarded, there was none to be found.

There _was_ a little bit of good news, though, when the young woman turned her attention back to the office itself, and her thorough search of the desk and cabinets revealed a few useful items. From how low and worn out the office chair was, as well as the drawer full of candy bars that she quickly discovered, the manager of the warehouse must have been a pretty big guy, but a large supply of _Snickers_ and _Payday_ bars was better than nothing, especially for people who hadn't eaten in a while… like herself.

Making a quick head count of the survivors who were gathered on the first floor, not that there were very many of them, Jill divided the candy bars into the same number of piles so that everyone would get a fair share. The other useful thing that she found was a baseball bat that was hidden behind the filing cabinets, probably to be used in the event of a break in… she had been hoping for a firearm of some kind, but the bat was once again better than nothing, especially since her pistol was out of bullets.

Well, that was about everything useful inside the office, and now it was time to go update the survivors on what was happening. They weren't going to like what she had to say, especially after they had just managed to escape from the main infected horde with their lives, but with no supplies to sustain them inside the warehouse aside from those candy bars… let's just say that there were some things _worse_ than being eaten alive by zombies. So, she took a deep breath, turned the knob of the office door, and stepped out into the main room.

Not wanting to break the news until they had all at least had something to eat, the half a dozen men and women who were sitting on the floor or leaning against support pillars suddenly came to life when she gave them the candy bars, and hey, there was no fighting over them, which was a good sign. Without so much as a thank you, however, the survivors returned to the same places where they had been before, with no one speaking up or suggesting ideas as if… as if they were content to just sit there and wait to be rescued… not as good of a sign.

"All right, I know you've been through a lot." Jill began once she had finished one of her own bars, saving the other two for later. "But we're going to have to move on pretty soon."

Suddenly all of them stopped eating and looked over at her like she was crazy, which might have been at least a partially good thing, since none of them appeared to be planning on saving any of their candy bars for later, and then the complaints started. One man suggested that they should stay put and wait for rescue since there were none of those _things_ around, followed by a red haired woman who agreed with him, before adding that they simply find a way to call for help so that the rescue team would get there faster.

"The rescue team?" The young woman asked, partially surprised at hearing this. "Remember all those cops outside who just got torn apart? That _was_ the rescue attempt, and how do you plan on calling for help, huh? The phones are dead, I just checked, and those monsters outside are _attracted_ to light and noise, so you'd just be bringing _more_ of them here."

Instead of the survivors seeing the logic of her argument, like she hoped, the people looked like they were starting to get angry, not at the infected or the situation, but _her_ specifically, like this was somehow all her fault. One rather heavy man stood up and suggested that Jill was crazy, yelling very loudly about how he had just lost his daughter outside when one of the _cops_ who were supposed to protect them, tried to _hide_ behind her.

 _Bam! Rattle! Bam!_ All talking stopped inside the warehouse instantly stopped when the metal rollup door started shaking again, with the infected people outside groaning and growling as if the yelling had excited them to attack. After a few minutes of them being unable to get in, as well as no one saying a word inside of the warehouse, the banging slowed down until the door stopped moving, and the zombies could no longer be heard.

"Look, I know this situation is bad, okay?" The young woman continued in a hushed voice. "But there isn't going to be any rescue, and we can't call for help, at least not from here. It's gonna be dangerous, but if we can make it to the police station, than I can use the radio equipment _there_ and maybe get us out."

"Who in the hell put _you_ in charge?" That first woman spoke up again. "You're not even a cop; I saw you on the news, you're one of those lunatics who got fired last summer, aren't you? Are you trying to get us all killed like you did to your friends?"

As much as Jill wanted to defend herself, or simply punch this little brat, especially when the others started to agree with her, she knew that allowing an argument to intensify would only make their situation worse. She had to remember that these people were not trained STARS members, or police officers at all… they were helpless civilians, who were scared, confused… and worst of all looking for someone to blame for what was happening around them. What they needed was leadership and hope, and getting to the police station was honestly the best thing she could offer.

However, like most people who were scared and angry, they wanted nothing to do with her plan, not unless it meant they could just sit there like a bunch of helpless twelve year old girls waiting for _daddy_ to crush a spider. Unfortunately for them, _daddy_ wasn't coming, no one was unless they got to the police station and used the radio equipment to let someone know that they were still alive in the first place. God, why couldn't Barry Burton be there to talk to these people, or Marvin Branagh from RPD Traffic Division, or even that complete _asshole_ Tobias Liquid from Homicide? All of them were good at talking people down when they were upset, but Barry left town, she hadn't seen Marvin since getting suspended, and Tobias had been in a coma since last spring.

"Damn it, we have to get _out_ of here." Jill tried again, not wanting to get too loud because of the zombies. "There's no water, those candy bars you all just scarfed down were the only food we have, and I'm out of bullets, so this baseball bat here is the only thing we have to defend ourselves with. Don't you understand, we need to _go_?"

"If you want to go so bad, then _go_." The large man spoke up again. "But I'd rather starve to death _in here_ , than be eaten alive by one of those things _out there_ , so go on, if you're such a hotshot. But you're leaving the bat… we still need to survive after you get yourself killed."

More agreement from this last statement resounded throughout the warehouse, and the young woman was honestly a little surprised that all these _men_ would not only allow, but also _insist_ that a woman go unarmed out into the city as it was. Truth be told, she probably had a better chance to survive out there by herself unarmed, than all these people did together, even _with_ the bat. Question was, were they desperate enough to try and take it from her? Jill didn't want to have to hurt them if they did so, but she also wasn't crazy about the idea of wandering Raccoon City with nothing but an empty pistol.

 _Thunk-clunk_ , the wooden bat echoed as it bounced after being dropped onto the floor, and this seemed to make the survivors calm down a little as she made her way to the smaller back door of the warehouse. No, the young woman couldn't just leave them like that, so she decided to make one last appeal to their senses; informing them that even if she managed to get to the police station radio, there was a good chance that she wouldn't be able to come back for them, and there was no guarantee that a rescue team would be able to reach them, so there best chance was to go with her.

"God damn it, I told you that we're _not_ leaving!" The bigger man shouted, causing the zombies to rattle the rollup door again. "We're not going with you, none of us, _never_ … so just get out, if you're going!"

Now he was pointing the bat at her in a threatening manner, and the others didn't seem to have a problem with this, so… well, that was that. With a final promise that she would try to send help back for them if she could, which was met by even more yelling for her to leave, Jill turned away from them in order to unlock the back door. Turning the knob as quietly as she could, and then opening it just enough to take a peek outside, she was relieved to see that there were no infected in the immediate area… probably all drawn to the rollup door.

Taking a deep breath, and stepping out into the small alley behind the warehouse, she was looking around at the sunlit fire escapes and large trash dumpsters that made up most of the features of her new surroundings, when the door behind her was suddenly pushed shut and locked with a soft _click_. She didn't have a key, so there was no getting back inside unless the survivors agreed to let her back in… fat chance of that happening… but at least the sun was out, so it was less likely for the infected to sneak up on her as she began making her way down the tight alleyway.


	3. Chapter 3 Carlos Olivera

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Three: Carlos Olivera**

"This is Chopper Delta." The pilot reported into the radio's receiver. "Preparing to drop off at _Area E95070_ ; ETA fifteen minutes, over."

" _Roger, Chopper Delta_." A voice responded a second later. " _Proceed to the drop point as ordered, over and out_."

Sunlight poured in brightly through the small, circular side windows of the large CH-47 Transport Helicopter, allowing Carlos Olivera to see clearly as all of the other mercenaries rechecked their gear for the final time before the actual mission began. The young man could hardly believe that he and the rest of these experienced soldiers from around the world were about to be dropped into an _American_ city, of all places, nor could he believe that they were doing it on the orders of a large corporation like Umbrella.

Just a few days before, he had been in the middle of asshole nowhere, or _Honduras_ as the locals referred to it, but instead of wearing the green uniform of a soldier, he was sitting in a dirty prison cell. Sentenced to die for… let's just call it _poor life choices_ that mostly involved a group of rebels on the losing side, Carlos had only been a few hours from the chopping block, when he had been roughly pulled from his cell, and sat down at a table with a man in a real sharp looking suit.

That man brought an offer with him, an offer that sounded like something out of a Hollywood Movie, but when faced with execution, was there really any choice? A name was never given, but this man represented the worldwide _Umbrella Corporation_ , and simply said that in exchange for purchasing his freedom, the young man had to use the skills he had learned on the battlefield at the company's behest. This situation led him, and several dozen others, to join a newly formed group called the _Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service_ , or _UBCS_ for short… and what a team it was.

Everyone there was on Umbrella's payroll, but above all of them was one man who was to be their leader on a mission that had only been partially described. That man was a tough looking Russian, former USSR Spetsnaz from what the rumors said, named Mikhail Victor. Captain Victor was as tough as he looked, but was more concerned with turning this rag-tag collection of soldiers, criminals, and outlaws into a functioning team, than anything else. He claimed that all of them wearing that uniform were brothers, and that there was no stronger bond than that between men who have fought shoulder to shoulder in war.

Mikhail's Lieutenant, another much sterner looking Russian with gray hair, named Nikolai Zinoviev, did not seem to share this sense of brotherhood, and mostly kept to himself during the days of briefings and equipment issuing that happened next. An American _M4 Carbine_ rifle with collapsible stock, a _SIG Pro SP 9mm_ pistol with plenty of ammo for each, water canteen, serrated combat knife, compass; people could say what they wanted about Umbrella, but the company was really well equipped, and with everyone else getting issued the same gear, the young man was feeling like they could take on _any_ enemy.

"All right, men, fifteen minutes to drop." Mikhail said in his heavy accent, taking a large bottle out of a case as he stood up. "Here I hold _real_ Russian Vodka, not that _bullshit_ you buy at corner store. Each of you take drink and pass to brothers, make us all strong and focused for mission ahead, da? Corporal Olivera, you are youngest, you drink first."

Never one to disobey such an order from his commander, the young man took the bottle, and there was some laughter when he had to cough after taking his drink. Carlos wasn't that young, but… well, compared to some of those guys, he supposed that twenty one did seem so by comparison… oh great, now his mouth was still burning from that liquid fire that the Captain called Vodka. Turning to look out the window near him as the bottle was passed around, the young man could see the place called Raccoon City in the distance; a small place surrounded by forests and mountains… and he wondered what bad things could ever happen in a pretty place like this?

The explanation that he had gotten during the briefings was that an emergency situation had broken out, and that Carlos's unit, which was only one of several, was to be tasked with evacuating civilians. Search and rescue was easy enough, and at the time it sounded better than what some of the other units had been assigned to, like the platoon that was to keep their extraction point secured… _boring_ … and the one that was supposed to recover some kind of ground-breaking vaccine from the hospital… slightly _less_ boring, but still not what he wanted to do.

No, the place for him had always been on the front lines of battle, but the young man couldn't help wondering what kind of enemy they would be facing when they landed in Raccoon City. Bikers? Iranian Terrorists? That guy from _Friday the 13th_? Again, most of what Carlos knew about America came from Hollywood Movies, but whatever had happened in this place, it had to be more than the local police could handle, or else why would the UBCS have been called in? The city was closer now, and he could see people moving around in the streets, as well as some buildings that were partially collapsed or on fire.

" _Que' diablos esta'pasando ahi abajo_?" He said to himself after seeing even more destruction. "Hey, Captain, did they have an earthquake or something? This place is _follada_."

"Bad time in _land of the free_." Mikhail replied, kind of snorting at what they saw while flying over. "Doesn't matter what happened… our only concerns are rescue of civilians, and watching backs of brothers, da? Hey… maybe you get lucky and rescue pretty girl down there, da? All right, men, listen up: Anyone finds pretty American girl with blonde hair and fake boobs, Olivera gets first dibs, da?"

The Captain elbowed him a couple times while everyone laughed, and even Carlos joined in after a few seconds, since he didn't exactly _hate_ the idea. Now everyone lurched forward just a little as the rotors of the helicopter started to slow down, and now the mostly intact buildings of Raccoon City's downtown district were rising up around them. The landing zone was set in the middle of one of the small city's largest streets, but the extraction point was someplace called _St. Michael Clock Tower_ , which the young man assumed was kind of like _Big Ben_ in London.

More sunlight coming in as the cargo door of the helicopter slowly lowered into a ramp, revealing that they were hovering just a meter or so above the blacktop road, and on Mikhail's order everyone got up to disembark. No one there was a rookie to the battlefield, so upon jumping down from the helicopter, all of them got into a circular defensive formation, with rifles pointed in all directions until everyone was off, and the wind kicked up as the helicopter flew back up into the sky.

Once the wind, sand, and blowing trash died down, everyone was able to look around themselves, but except for the sound of a car alarm that was running out of juice and the crackling of a small fire coming from a nearby building's windows, everything was surprisingly quiet. Windows were broken on several nearby shops, cars were crashed together in large pileups, and trash was blowing everywhere as if some kind of civil riot had broken out, but if everyone had gone all crazy like after the _World Cup_ or something… then where the hell _was_ everybody?

"Movement!" Nikolai announced, startling Carlos a little. "Civilians at nine o'clock, they look… unarmed."

Everyone had turned their heads in the direction called out, and the young man saw that there were indeed some civilians now headed toward them. Some were walking down the street, while others slowly made their way out of alleys and buildings, probably drawn to the sound of the helicopter, but… but some of them didn't look well. Yeah, a lot of them were stumbling, and some had what looked like blood on their shirts and faces like they had been wounded or maybe caught in a car crash or something.

"Remember, men, most Americans only speak _English_." Mikhail reminded them. "Remember to give all commands to civilians in _English_ ; injured ones might be scared, and foreign tongues might make things worse."

Carlos spoke English just fine, but it was the Captain who first addressed the approaching, and growing crowd. He informed them that they were there to rescue as many of them as possible, and that no matter what had happened before, they were safe now, but as more and more of them approached… from both sides now… the young man was starting to feel nervous. A lot of the people could be heard groaning and rasping, and their skin was off color, even for _blanquitos_ … and their eyes… something was _very_ wrong here.

"We are here to help, but you must keep back." Mikhail continued as all the men began feeling obvious anxiety. "Stop right there, I'm warning you."

 _Bang_! Taking out his pistol and firing a shot into the air as a warning, the Captain was visibly concerned when the approaching people weren't bothered by the gunshot, and now they were close enough for the men to see that they were shambling and drooling; growling and snarling as they got closer… and worst of all, the blood on their clothes did _not_ appear to be their own. So what… were these the ones _behind_ the attack, instead of victims? Either way, the Captain told them to prepare to engage just in case, reminding them to fire center mass of their targets to save ammo… nothing fancy.

 _Bang_! After giving the closest one a final command to stop, Mikhail lowered his pistol, and fired another shot, this time causing a small spray of blood when the bullet hit the deranged man's leg. Growling as if surprised, the drooling man stumbled for a second before falling to his knees… only to get back up and limp a little as he continued heading right for them. _Bang_! _Bang_! Now shooting him twice in the chest, the deranged man stumbled backwards, but didn't fall this time… and he was not the only one that was getting too close for comfort.

"Fire carefully!" The Captain yelled, switching to his rifle. "Drive them back and move to cover!"

Now the streets were echoing with gunfire as all of the soldiers picked their targets and began to engage, but… but something was _very_ wrong here. _Ratta-tat! Ratta-tat!_ Firing his rifle in quick, controlled bursts, Carlos shot his own target, a deranged _woman_ this time, four or five times in the chest, far more than was required to kill with such a weapon… but apparently someone forgot to tell _her_ that, because she was still on her feet. For a moment the young man thought maybe his weapon was defective, but then he realized that everyone else was having the same problem.

The deranged, snarling people weren't dying when they were shot… and now even more of them were coming down both sides of the street.


	4. Chapter 4 September 28th Daylight

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Four: September 28th Daylight**

From recent experience, Jill had learned that staying outside in the open was a death sentence with the sheer number of infected people shambling around the city, so instead of running down the street as fast as she could in order to reach the police station, the young woman crouched down behind every dumpster, and ducked into every building that wasn't on fire that she could. So long as there were no zombies inside, she was content to hide under the window until the monsters passed by, and her most current shelter just happened to be a small boutique on Jack Street.

Like a lot of the shops that could be found in Raccoon City's uptown district, this was a little place for rich ladies to buy over-priced clothing and perfume that would have cost a third of the price downtown. Jill had never been inside before, although she had always meant to stop by during her seldom experienced _girly_ moments when she would spoil herself, but… the selection of things inside the store was actually kind of disappointing.

She had never been one for perfume or gaudy jewelry, but having fashionable clothes never hurt anyone… in particular, a thick leather jacket that was placed around one of the display mannequins. This was no time to be fashionable, but given that her current clothing consisted of old hiking boots, ripped blue jeans, and a faded t-shirt, something like a leather jacket was welcome since it might very well save her life in the event that an infected person tried to bite her. The young woman's body type was pretty generic, so it wasn't much of a surprise when the jacket fit, but there was one more thing that needed to be done before moving on.

Ever since leaving her apartment the other day and deciding to help the cops instead of trying to get out of town, her long brown hair had been constantly getting in the way. Back at the Spencer Estate, her beret had helped keep it in place, but now it seemed that nothing was able to keep it from falling back into her face… with the only solution being a pair of large scissors that were on the check-out counter. _Snip-snip_ , using one of the small mirrors that were more suited for looking at necklaces, Jill cut off a good portion of her hair so that it was now barely shoulder length, and… hey, she really _did_ look good with short hair.

Now if only she could find a weapon to defend herself with until getting more bullets from the RPD… no, of course not, why would a place like _this_ have any kind of a weapon under the counter? Okay, an empty pistol and her talent for kicking people really hard was not going to cut it, but it wasn't like the young woman could just materialize weapons out of thin air like the player's inventory in one of Joseph Frost's video games. Of course, being able to magically store things for later use would've been pretty nice in this situation.

Too bad that this was real life instead of a video game… if it _was_ a video game, she'd probably be running around in a really impractical outfit like a skirt or a tube-top. Yeah, dressed like a _hooker_ and carrying around a _mini-gun_ or something like it _didn't_ weigh a million pounds, and then she could've just cleaned out all the infected from Raccoon City all by herself. But no, instead she had to wait for the zombies to shamble on by, before trying to move onto the next building without being discovered. But where the hell was she going to find a weapon?

The most obvious choice was the gun shop ran by those Kendo Brothers, but it was literally _miles_ away from Jill's current location, and besides the boutique, the only other notable place nearby was _Bar Jack_. Bar Jack, of course! The young woman was tempted to smack herself for not thinking of it sooner, since where was a firearm more likely to be found than underneath the bar of well… a _bar_? It was a small place, but in walking distance from where she was, so as soon as the last of the zombies had passed by, Jill carefully pushed the door open to leave.

With slight tinting on the windows to protect its customers from the glare, she had forgotten how bright the sun was shining, especially for early autumn, when things were supposed to start cooling down. Apparently someone had forgotten to give the sun that memo, because it was beating down _hard_ on the city, especially now that Jill was wearing that heavy jacket. The infected didn't care about the light or the heat, just kind of pacing back and forth, or sometimes not moving at all as if lying in wait to ambush unsuspecting victims, but thankfully there were plenty of things for her to hide behind as she made her way toward the bar.

 _Oh shit_ , she thought, nearly walking right into a female zombie that had its back turned when she started to round the corner. Had the monster seen her, she wondered while crouching down behind a large blue mailbox? Had it heard her footsteps and started looking for where the noise came from? As long as it didn't surprise her, the young woman was confident that she could take down a single infected person in a fight, but the problem was that the noise generated from such a struggle would have brought others, and then… well, best to not let it get that far.

Wow, it was such a beautiful day with the sun shining down and not a cloud in the sky, that it was a little hard to believe that the monsters had overtaken the city… harder still to believe that somehow she was still alive after everything that had happened. Jill had nearly been killed several times at the Spencer Estate, and even more so during the last couple days, but just like before when her life depended on Brad Vickers airlifting them to safety, everything now hinged on her being able to call for help at the RPD.

Letting out a long sigh of relief once the female zombie started to walk away, the young woman moved from her hiding place as well, and now the sign above the door of Bar Jack was visible, even though it was still a good distance away. So she kept going, the young woman having to take a chance on moving out into the open when she ran out of cover, only to hear the sudden rasping of a zombie when she was forced to cross an alley right in front of it.

"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed in surprise, a lot louder than intended. "Shit, shit, shit."

Jill's first instinct was to go for her pistol as she backed away, remembering that it was empty only after it was drawn, but the weapon was still a piece of metal, so she bashed it into the side of the infected man's head. _Whack_! There was enough power behind the blow to make it turn sideways and stumble a bit, but not enough to knock it down, causing Jill to have to finish the job by pulling her leg back and kicking it in the rear as hard as she could, _this time_ making it eat the pavement on its way down.

Too bad for her that the sounds generated by this brief struggle were enough to draw the attention of another nearby zombie, as well as another who was halfway across the street. Now the two of them were slowly shambling their way toward her, while the one she had already knocked down was starting to get up… and there was nowhere she could run to without getting the attention of even more of the deranged infected people.

Weapon, weapon, she needed a weapon, God damn it… but there was nothing around her except for the mailbox, which was bolted down to prevent vandalism, her empty pistol, which was not going to be enough against _three_ zombies… and a metal, partially full trashcan. With no other option than to try it, the young woman grabbed the lid off the can and swung it into the face of the zombie closest to her as it was getting up, before picking up the can itself, and causing a bunch of wet, rotten trash to spill out onto the street as she slammed it down over the infected man's head.

Growling in frustration when the can pinned its arms while blinding it, the zombie walked right into a nearby light pole in its feeble effort to free itself, and as for the other two who were approaching… Jill ignored them completely while making a mad dash toward the front door of Bar Jack. Sprinting with all her might, the young woman ran right past several of the infected, having to push or punch a couple of them out of the way, and in turn gaining quite a following as the hungry monsters chased her.

Keeping ahead of them was not a problem, since a sprinting woman in good shape was far faster than a bunch of shambling zombies, but there was quite a lot of risk involved in this strategy. For one thing, there was a chance that the door to the bar would be locked, and if so then she would simply have to keep running until finding more shelter… or simply getting too tired to go on and the infected overwhelmed her. Without her lock-picking tools, nor the time to use them even if she did, the young woman's only hope was that the door was open.

"No!" She screamed when she ran into the door and it didn't move when she pushed it. "No, come on!"

The knob was turning, but the door didn't give in no matter how hard the young woman slammed her body into it, as if the dead bolt was in place… and now the infected were getting closer. The ones she had seen before, as well as a whole bunch of their snarling, drooling friends that they had picked up along the way were now shambling their way toward her just like they had done the previous day at the barricade… only this time Jill didn't have twenty cops there for backup.

Now the zombies were coming from the other direction as well, cutting off any possible escape route that she could take by running for it, so in desperation the young woman kept slamming herself into the amazingly sturdy wooden door again and again… until seeing something that would have made her laugh if not for the monsters who were about to get her. There, on a small metal sigh at the center of the door, was the word _PULL_.

Groaning and snarling as they shambled closer, the young woman felt the tip of some infected fingers brush across her hair just as she pulled the door open, hitting another of them in the jaw as she ran through. Grabbing the knob on the inside as she did so, Jill pulled the heavy door shut behind her as the zombies reached and clawed for her, with their frustrated groans being heard while she locked both the knob _and_ the dead bolt to keep them out.


	5. Chapter 5 Murphy

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Five: Murphy**

Even after the screaming and gunfire had stopped, Carlos was still having difficulty wrapping his mind around what had just happened. His unit had been completely surrounded, and the enemy, who looked like they were all on drugs or something, just weren't dying no matter how many bullets got put into them. Trained to aim at center mass of his targets, like most soldiers, the young man hit several of them right in the chest, both to save ammo and cause the most damage, but it wasn't doing anything… until one of the others bumped into him, causing a bullet to hit one of approaching psychos in the head… and it went down.

For a moment all of time became still as he realized something about the enemy that they were fighting, but the idea was so damn _loco_ that he didn't want to admit it, even to himself. They were shambling around like they were drunk or high, most of them were covered in blood, they didn't react to pain or fall from bullets, they were attacking his comrades and… _biting_ the ones they got a hold of like animals… and worst of all, the only way they stopped moving was to… shoot them in the head.

" _Zombies_!" Carlos had screamed at the top of his lungs. " _Ellos son Zombies_!"

The others didn't pay much attention to this, at least not until the young man started actively aiming at the monsters' heads, and they the others started following suit when they saw how effective this strategy was. However, by this time it was too late to be used as a defensive strategy, and the whole unit would have been overwhelmed if the order for them to retreat hadn't come a moment later… in the form of an exploding grenade.

 _BOOM_! Carlos had seen Mikhail take something off his tactical vest and toss it into the crowd of zombies, and everything shook for a second as more than a dozen of them were thrown through the air in a flash of noise and fire. Many of the ones who were hit were already starting to crawl around, but the attack had cleared a small avenue in the crowd for the soldiers to escape through. Yelling for them to get into a tight wedge formation, and stay together while running for the small alley at the end of the slowly closing gap, the Captain led the charge, hitting every zombie that got in their way with the stock of his rifle.

Suddenly the young man felt something grab him by the arm, and he looked just in time to see that he had been caught by one of the monsters that was now opening its mouth to bite him. Carlos tried to swing his rifle in the right direction to hit the monster, a young woman whose blonde hair was falling out, but he missed, and would have been bitten for sure if the man next to him, a guy that he only knew as Murphy, hadn't grabbed the monster by the hair so that the young man could free himself.

Unfortunately for Murphy, this act of bravery caused the female zombie to get free of his grip when its hair literally ripped off in his hand, allowing her jagged, rotting teeth to sink deeply into his shoulder. Now that he was free, the young man was able to repay Murphy for saving him by ramming the stock of his rifle into the female zombie's head so hard that several of her teeth flew out as she fell backwards into some others while the two of them caught up to the rest of the unit.

As soon as all of the survivors were through an open metal-bar gate that led into the small alleyway they had seen earlier, Nikolai slammed it shut in the approaching zombies' faces, before shooting a couple of them in the legs with his pistol, making them fall onto the street. What happened next came as a shock to everyone, when some of the other zombies threw themselves onto the ones who had been shot, and then started… eating them as if they thought they were attacking a human, or… something.

"No time to watch freak show, keep moving." Mikhail said, waving for them to follow him. "Gate will not hold forever, must get indoors."

Following his lead, the young man and the others ran after him as he kept going down the narrow passage, stopping at the first door they came to, which looked like the service entrance on the back side of some store. There were other doors farther down, like this building next to them was some kind of strip mall, but the need for shelter from the attacking monsters was more important than exploration at the moment.

The door was also locked, so the rest of them kept watch while Nikolai knelt down in front of the latch, and put something into the keyhole. Carlos didn't know the first thing about picking locks, although he had always wanted to learn, so he watched intently as the Lieutenant shifted and turned the different tools until there was a soft _click_ from inside. Back at the gate, the zombies were rattling the bars with such fury that the whole gate was rocking back and forth, but that didn't matter once the survivors were inside, and the door was relocked.

"Do not let guard down, men." The Captain warned, keeping his rifle ready. "More danger could be waiting inside."

He was right, of course, so all of the survivors… all _four_ of them, including Carlos, quietly moved out of the storage area, and into a small area that seemed to be a pharmacy. In the bright fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling, the young man could see through the windows at the front of the store that there were a few more zombies walking around on the street outside, although not nearly as many as the mob that had ambushed them, and he also saw that this place was completely stocked.

In every other city that he had ever been sent to during any kind of emergency, the first thing Carlos always saw was that the stores were empty as if the people were trying to stock up in order to be able to survive during… whatever the hell had happened to this place. This was different, though, and with all of the store shelves fully stocked as if having been ready for a normal business day, so… what, did this whole _zombie nightmare_ just catch everyone by surprise?

And _zombies_ , Jesus Christ, fucking _zombies_ … the young man had seen _Dawn of the Dead_ when it had finally reached Central America about ten years after being made, and it had nearly scared him to death when he was a kid… would have been nice to know that it was based on a true fucking story, though. But this… this just couldn't be happening, he told himself as the four of them checked out every inch of the store, everyone knew that things were a little loco in America, but how the hell could they have fucking zombies?

"God damn it, radio man didn't make it." The Captain was heard saying a couple aisles over. "All right, men, search for anything useful; telephone, radio, anything… we must call for reinforcements, or at least warn brothers of threat."

Finding a telephone was easy, since there was one behind the cash register, as well as a payphone mounted in the corner near the front door, and that was the _good_ news. The bad news was that neither of them were working, and the only radio that any of them could find was just an AM/FM receiver for listening to music… maybe CB radio transmitters weren't as popular in America as they were in other parts of the world. Plenty of batteries for them, though, so Carlos put a few into one of the radios, and turned it on.

Maybe there would be a news broadcast, or an emergency transmission telling people where shelters had been setup, or maybe even just a little music to lighten the mood. After all, he _was_ in America, so maybe now the young man would have a chance to hear new songs when they came out, instead of having to wait two years for it to reach Costa Rica, or _wherever_ he was at the time. So he tuned across the whole bandwidth, but there was just… nothing. No news, no emergency stations, no music, no _nothing_.

"Probably better off without American music." Mikhail commented when Carlos got frustrated and tossed the radio down. "Trust me, Olivera, you do _not_ want _Barbie Girl_ stuck in head for two weeks."

He was probably right, so the young man decided to forget about it, and focus on more important things, like grabbing a bag of _Cheetos_ off the nearby shelf and wolfing down the contents after realizing how hungry he was. Carlos had seen the commercial for them on TV where this big cat in sunglasses does anything to get a hold of them, but after trying them himself, the taste was actually kind of disappointing.

"Oli… Olivera!" Murphy suddenly called out. "Something… something's wrong!"

Rushing over to the end of the aisle where his comrade was standing, the young man got there just in time to see Murphy pull off his black knit-cap… and taking with it some of his light colored hair. It didn't rip, it just kind of… _pulled out_ , and now Carlos could see that his friend didn't look very good at all. His face was getting pale, even for a _blanquito_ , and he was drooling a little… sweating with labored breaths. Clearly this man was not well, but hey, they were inside a _pharmacy_ , right? Maybe there was something in this place that could make him feel better.

There were some advertisements for Umbrella manufactured medications like _Safsprin_ , and _Aquacura_ … whatever the hell that was… but in the young man's experience, what was usually needed in cases like this was _antibiotics_. Such things were apparently not available over the counter in America like they were literally _everywhere_ else in the world, so Carlos started toward the locked storage area in the back to look for more supplies, when a new sound reached his ears.

"Captain! Lieutenant!" He yelled, rushing back over to his comrade's side. "There's something wrong with Murphy!"

In response, Mikhail and Nikolai rushed over to them, only to stop in their tracks at what they saw. No longer standing, Murphy was on his hands and knees, gasping and clawing at himself so that his shirt came open, allowing the three others to see how infected and discolored the bite he had received from that female zombie had become. In fact, _all_ of his skin was becoming discolored as he convulsed on the floor, while a white glaze formed over his eyes, and he suddenly reached out to grab Carlos, who stumbled backwards and tripped over a small display.

 _Bang_! In a single gunshot, it was all over, and when the young man was able to get back up, he saw two things. The first was that the pistol in Nikolai's hands was still smoking from being fired… and the second was that Murphy was dead. His comrade now looked exactly like one of the zombies outside, but thankfully not moving as the discolored blood flowed out from the wound in his head.


	6. Chapter 6 Bar Jack

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Six: Bar Jack**

The zombies outside sounded angry and frustrated as they clawed and pounded at the heavy wooden door of Bar Jack, but Jill wasn't too worried about them, since the door had already proven itself during her own attempts to get into the small building. It was actually kind of convenient that circumstances had forced her into there, since not only was there a chance that the owner kept a weapon of some kind under the bar, but the back door of the place would save her from having to go all the way around the block, and therefore get her a lot closer to the police station.

So far the inside of the bar was quiet, with only the light _squeak_ of the slowly turning ceiling fans reaching her ears, and as she stood there by the front door where she could see almost the whole place, the young woman's eyes watched carefully for any movement. Aside from the bathrooms off to the side, Bar Jack consisted of one single open room that was illuminated by a series of old glass-domed fixtures left over from the 70's, which cast the place in dim yellow light.

A payphone booth was sitting in the corner next to a long coatrack, and the only other light came from the owner's prized _Pinball_ machine, whose bright colors had been flashing throughout the bar since… well, ever since she had started going there. Besides that, the only other features were the bar itself, with its dozens of glass bottles stacked in front of a large mirror, and all of the photographs that lined the walls. Some of them were historical images of Raccoon City's founding and things like that, but most of the framed pictures were of the different customers.

Bar Jack had been around for a long time, so one of the photos was of the owner with an Umbrella executive when the company had just moved into town, and there was one of Chief Irons and Mayor Warren when they were both a bit younger. Going down the rows of them and actually feeling good for a moment when her mind was taken off the current state of the city, Jill spotted one from a few years ago of the Raccoon City High School basketball team, on which Chris Redfield's little sister, Claire, had played… and there was one of STARS after they had been formed… and there was even one of Barry Burton and Tobias Liquid after they came back from _Desert Storm_ , and…

Suddenly the young woman's brief happiness changed into a startled scream as a zombie, which must have been just standing there motionless around the corner for the longest time, lunged at her when she got closer to look at the photographs. It groaned and snarled, drooling heavily as its big arms reached out wildly to grab any part of a potential victim that they could, and they would have succeeded if her reflexes were any slower. She managed to grab its wrists to keep the monster from getting a hold of her neck, but the deranged man was so much bigger than her that its advance caused her to be forced backwards.

Managing to hold her ground for a second in an attempt to push the monster backwards, this attempt was unsuccessful, and now the young woman was stumbling backwards even more quickly than before, but instead of hitting the wall, she gasped when the back of her legs connected with something metal, followed by the sound and feeling of shattered glass when the zombie tackled her right on top of the pinball machine. This impact seemed to have brought the machine to life as well; it's retro-futuristic lights and sounds filling the room as she used all of her strength to keep the monster from biting her.

It was in a rage, snapping its jaw full of rotting jagged teeth over and over again while trying to get to her face, and most of her body was trapped both by the frame of the machine to the sides, the zombie which was now pinning her down by laying right on top of her. Jill's elbow was pressed hard into its neck to keep the teeth away, while struggling to keep it from getting control of her arms by grabbing onto her wrists. The bumpers and pillars of the game were jamming into her back in a really uncomfortable way, and the funny part was that she could easily reach her pistol, not that it would do much good being empty… but then her hand felt something else.

 _Glass_! The whole top case of the Pinball machine had been shattered when her ass went through it, and now there was a piece of the thick glass right next to her free hand… a very long and sharp piece of glass. Taking a risk in moving her arm more so that she could pick it up, the zombie now grabbed her other wrist and forced it down in order to quickly go for her face… and it might have succeeded if the young woman hadn't stabbed the piece of glass right into its eye at the same time.

Now groaning in what almost sounded like pain, the infected man was put off balance enough for Jill to try and get one of her legs up underneath its stomach, when the left side of the machine they were lying on collapsed out from under them. With the world suddenly turning sideways, and then a loud _crash_ as they hit the floor, the young woman immediately started kicking the zombie in the face and chest while scooting away, and then picking up a wooden bar stool the moment she was able to get to her feet.

The stool didn't break like in the movies when she brought it down on the infected man's back, nor did it on the second or third time she did it, but the monster kept trying to get up, so for the next hit she aimed at its head. _Whack! Whack! Whack_! Hitting the zombie in the back of the skull again and again, Jill was relieved when its head finally busted open and the monster was still, because honestly she had been running out of energy to the point where the bar stool fell from her shaking hands just as its foul-smelling blood started to stain the carpet.

"Oh, my God… oh, my God." She panted, kind of stumbling over to the bar and sitting down to catch her breath. "This is so much harder… without bullets."

Sitting there on the bar stool for a couple minutes, the young woman caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and couldn't help laughing a bit, since the way her hair was all messed up and her clothes were wrinkled and disheveled… it almost looked like she had just gotten done having sex. Yeah, if only _that_ were the reason for her current appearance, she thought while grabbing a nearby bottle and pouring a shot of whatever was in it into a small glass. This was no time to get drunk, but a shot of, uh… _Vermouth_ might help calm her nerves.

Jill was no stranger to taking shots, so the Vermouth went down real easy, and sure enough she started to feel a little better pretty soon after. It was tempting to have more, although she didn't care for the taste… yeah, she still had to get to the police station and use the radio, and to do that she needed to see if there was a weapon under the… hey, what the hell? Getting up from the stool and leaning over the bar, the young woman could now not only see _herself_ in the mirror… but the start of someone else… someone who was hiding under the bar.

Whoever it was down there, they weren't moving, so… were they dead? The last thing she needed was another zombie waiting to ambush her when she reached around to find a weapon… well, there was one way to test it… which involved picking up that bottle again. _Smash_! Glass and alcohol went everywhere when Jill tossed it down onto the floor right next to the waiting figure, and what followed was not the groan of a zombie, but the surprised _yelp_ of a human.

Sighing with relief as the mysterious person scrambled out from under the bar, she was just glad that it was a real person instead of a zombie… at first. The young woman had expected to find a frightened survivor hiding under there, maybe the bar's owner or some random person who was just trying to survive, but when the terrified looking man jumped to his feet, smacking the shards and fluid off of himself, the first thing Jill felt was anger when she saw who it was… and even more so when she saw that he was armed.

"What the… are you fucking serious right now?" She demanded, about to throw another bottle at him. "Did you somehow not _hear_ me fighting for my life over here a minute ago?"

The frightened looking man who was now standing across the bar from her was no random civilian, but Brad Vickers, the STARS Alpha Team pilot who had once abandoned them die in the forest outside the Spencer Estate. Sure, he had come back for them hours later when everything was said and done, but this time… this time he had just hid back there while she nearly got killed, when it would have been really easy for him to stand up, and, oh, I don't know, _shoot the fucking thing_.

"That thing… that thing _chased_ me in here!" The pilot yelled back, as if that were some kind of justification. "I was _trying_ to be quiet so that it would give up and leave like the others, but then _you_ came in, and I didn't want it to know I was still here, I'm… I'm glad you're all right, though."

"Oh, you're… you're… you're glad I'm all right?" The young woman asked, hardly believing what she was hearing. "Well, that makes everything all better, then, doesn't it? Here, let me thank you."

Jill's temper might have been a little short with him after everything she had been through, especially since this was the second time he had left her to die, and this moment of rage caused her to pick up another glass bottle and throw it at him. Brad jumped out of the way with another startled yelp as the bottle broke part of the mirror as it shattered behind him, and she was about to toss another one at him, holding back long enough to demand that he give her one of the extra clips he had for his pistol, which he did; sliding it across the bar toward her, but then saying something about bullets not going to do her any good and that hiding was the only way.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The young woman asked, lowering the bottle to reload her weapon. "I've been unarmed all day, and it was pretty awful, so… why in the hell wouldn't bullets do me any good?"

"Because he's _coming_ for us, that's why." Brad answered, a little more of the color draining out of his face. "He's coming for us, and we're _both_ gonna _die_."


	7. Chapter 7 Maintenance Access

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Seven: Maintenance Access**

For a couple minutes Carlos and the others just stood there, shocked by the reality of what had just happened; not only was Raccoon City apparently completely overrun by zombies, but minutes… only minutes after getting bitten by one of them, Murphy had… oh man, Murphy had _become_ one of them. The transformation had been over before the young man had even been able to understand what was happening to his comrade, and then with a single pull of the trigger, it was all over.

Unfortunately, even though Murphy wasn't going to be eating anyone's brains or whatever any time soon, the gunshot seemed to have agitated the zombies that were standing near the front windows of the pharmacy. Now clawing and pounding on the locked door and windows, they growled and groaned, which caused the ones that were further out in the street to come over and investigate the noise. Soon there were a dozen of them smacking at the windows, while the ones still in the alley were once again pounding on the back door as well.

"We cannot stay here, Mikhail." Nikolai warned, keeping his pistol ready. "Doors might be secure, but is only matter of time before cheap American windows break."

"I fear you are right, my friend." The Captain replied, taking a sorrowful look at the body. "We divide Murphy's ammo and equipment… quickly, we must escape this place."

As much as it hurt to have to go through his friend's pockets and help distribute his gear, Carlos knew that it was necessary if any of them wanted to get out of Raccoon City alive. Too bad there was no way for them to signal the other units for reinforcements, but the man carrying the radio equipment had been one of the first to fall during the zombie ambush, and the one carrying the backup radio had gotten killed during that mad rush toward the alley. As nice as it would have been for everyone to have their own radio, such a thing just wasn't practical… shit, he might as well have wished for everyone to be able to afford one of those brand new _Nokia 5110 Cellular Telephones_ … yeah right.

Nikolai had lost his rifle during the charge, so the Lieutenant was given Murphy's rifle, and all of them divided the extra ammo for both it and his pistol. All right, so now that everyone was fully armed… how in the hell were they going to get out of there? There were a dozen zombies at the front doors, and at least that many back where they had come in, so what were they going to do, simply shoot their way out and hope for the best? Carlos tried to be an optimist most of the time, but he really didn't want to go through a repeat of the _last time_ they tried to run through a zombie horde.

"What if we go up?" Nikolai suggested, pointing his finger toward the ceiling. "Buildings in Raccoon City are so close together, we climb up onto rooftop, and leap our way to safety, da?"

"Is possible, but we would be trapped if rooftops run out." Mikhail said after thinking for a minute. "Olivera, search for more exits; try to find access door into next building, then zombies will lose us."

The two Russians remained in front with their weapons aimed at the zombies who were still banging on the windows, which was probably a good thing in case they broke through. Now that they knew to shoot the monsters in the head, the three of them had a better chance of defending themselves, but the craziest part of all of this was how quickly they were becoming used to what was happening. I mean, this was some _loco_ , _Dawn of the Dead_ shit going on in Raccoon City, and if things like this happened in America all the time, then… then Carlos decided that he didn't want to move to this country any more.

Okay, gotta stay focused, the young man told himself as he searched around the perimeter of the building, looking behind conspicuous shelves and large promotional posters, hoping to find a door that would get them into the next building. No luck so far, though, and judging by how hard the monsters outside were trying to get in, they didn't have much time. In a last ditch effort to find a way through, the young man pulled open the door to the janitor's closet in the back corner, and gasped when he found, not a door into the next building, but something else that might help them escape undetected.

"Captain, Lieutenant, I found something!" He called out, leaning out the door. "I think we can use…

 _Crash_! His words were interrupted by the glass finally giving into the pressure being applied by the zombies, resulting in several of them literally falling head first into the pharmacy along with a shower of broken shards. The front and back doors of the place were still holding, but that didn't matter, since even more zombies were now throwing themselves in, crawling over and seeming to be fighting to get in front of the others. Mikhail must have remembered that the monsters sometimes even attacked their own wounded, because he fired a few precise shots at their legs with his rifle, giving the three of them a little more time to escape, when the zombies did just that.

"Whatever you found, use quickly!" The Captain shouted as he and Nikolai ran toward the janitor's closet. "We've got to get… oh… of course, _had_ to be this."

More and more zombies were pouring in through the broken windows, like fire ants falling from a disturbed part of the mound to attack an intruder, and with no other options, Nikolai pulled the closet door shut once all three of them were inside. Now they really did have no other choice but then to use Carlos's idea: A small maintenance access hatch in the back corner of the closet… maintenance, as in… an easy way to reach all the pipes and conduits that ran down inside the _sewer system_.

"The sewers?" The Lieutenant asked, scoffing. "The boy has led us to the _sewers_? That is just _wonderful_ with city the way it is."

"Is better than staying here." Mikhail replied, holding the door closed when the knob started to rattle. "You two get hatch open quickly… and then I suggest breathing through _mouths_ instead of noses."

Between himself and Nikolai, Carlos was able to pull open the rusty, creaking metal hatch, which clearly hadn't been used in a while. What waited for them down below was a metal ladder that quickly became invisible in the waiting darkness, but like the Captain said, it was better than staying there with the zombies. The Lieutenant went down first, and the young man was about to follow him, when he saw something else that gave him an idea. That idea came in the form of a large can of oil that was probably used for maintaining the air conditioning or something.

"Captain, come on!" Carlos yelled, pulling off the lid. "I'll use _this_ to slow them down!"

Mikhail nodded, and then let go of the door, sprinting over to the hatch just as the door was thrown open by the zombies… and the young man threw the contents of the oil can all across the floor at the same time. Unlike the carpeted store outside, this floor was bare tile, and the oil spread out perfectly across… right into the path of the oncoming monsters. _Thump! Whump_! As soon as the monsters' feet came into contact with the dark brown substance, they all started to slip and slide, crashing to the floor since they lacked the human motor control needed to keep their balance.

In most cases, Carlos would have taken time to laugh at them and gloat a little, but instead he followed the Captain down the ladder, and pulling the hatch closed behind himself, plunging the three of them into complete darkness. Thankfully, everyone had a flashlight mounted onto the end of their rifles, and as soon as the young man reached the damp floor of the tunnel below the pharmacy, all three flashlights were more than enough to illuminate the passageway.

Except for the heavily muffled sound of those monsters still falling all over themselves in the pharmacy above, everything was quiet now, but the underground passageway went in two directions, and none of them knew Raccoon City enough to know which way was best. They still had their compasses, though, so at least they would know what direction they were going. The tunnel was made of a concrete floor and ceiling, while the walls were cinder block, and although there were caged light fixtures present, none of them had power going to them.

The place didn't smell _nearly_ as bad as some of the sewers that Carlos had to travel through during his life for… _unimportant reasons_ , it was more like wet mold and dust from lack of use, although water could be heard running strongly inside some of the large metal pipes nearby. Well, whichever way they went, they couldn't just stand there waiting for the zombies to figure out how to open the hatch, if that was even possible, and come down after them.

"Come, we go… this way." The Captain said after making a seemingly random decision. "Nikolai, with me, Olivera, you watch rear."

With Mikhail and his Lieutenant facing front, and the young man looking backwards, they started moving down the tunnel headed in a generally north direction, and hopefully it would lead them to a place that was more secure while they figured out their next move. A soft echo was resounded throughout the passageway with each step that they took, but so far it seemed that the zombies had been unable to figure out the metal hatch back at the pharmacy, and with the way the sewer tunnels kept branching out, it was unlikely that the monsters would find them, even if they _did_ get the hatch open.

No, the zombies probably gave up after a few minutes of not seeing them any longer, since that was what happened at certain parts of _Dawn of the Dead_. Sure, Carlos's knowledge of the undead was not exactly scientific, but he had been right about shooting them in the head, so who was to say that the rest of that movie wasn't true, as well? Of course, the zombie movies hardly ever explained where the monsters actually came from… not that it really mattered at this point.

"Shhh, stop moving, no noise." The Captain suddenly whispered, putting out his arm to stop Nikolai. "Hold still, don't breathe… listen… hear that?"

As ordered, all three of them held perfectly still, not moving their flashlights, nor even breathing unless it was essential. Now they listened, with the young man hearing the flow of water from another nearby pipe, but nothing else for several seconds, and Carlos was about to ask what Mikhail what he thought he heard so that he would have a better idea what to listen for, when the answer came on its own in the form of _click… click… click…_

The sound was very slow and deliberate, but with all the echoes that the slightest noise generated, it was nearly impossible to figure out where it was coming from. One thing was for sure, though, it wasn't being generated from inside of the pipes, nor was it coming from the darkened light fixtures. It stopped when Carlos moved his foot to get a better ready stance, as if whatever was causing it was worried about being discovered, but started again after a few seconds of silence.

"Get ready, men." Mikhail whispered, just barely loud enough to be heard. "We are not alone down here."


	8. Chapter 8 Brad's Nightmare

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Eight: Brad's Nightmare**

Even with a shot or two of some of the stronger whiskey sitting around the bar in him, getting Brad to elaborate about what he had said about _someone coming after them_ was next to impossible. He would start out clearly enough, talking about how he had tried to escape the city through the downtown area the previous day, but as soon as the pilot got to the part about trying to describe why he was so freaked out, he would start to, well… get really freaked out like he was having flashbacks or something.

He rambled on about how nothing could hurt it, and said something about it being smart and really fast, but this seemed like a load of nonsense to Jill. With all of the horrors that she had seen in the Spencer Estate, there was nothing short of that _Tyrant_ monster that wouldn't die if it was shot in the head enough times, and besides, Tyrant had been artificially created in an Umbrella lab, not just simply exposed to the T-Virus like the people of this city. Even those clawed gorilla things and the giant snake that Rebecca Chambers had described, all went down after enough head damage.

"God damn it, Jill, you have to listen to me!" Brad yelled, slamming his fist down on the bar. "It's coming for _us_ , do you understand? As in… _you and me_ … and anyone else from STARS that it can find."

"Brad, right now we need to stay calm, okay?" The young woman replied, putting a hand on his shaking shoulder. "Listen to yourself… you're trying to tell me that one of those monsters out there is deliberately hunting STARS members, and that's just… ridiculous. I mean, how would you even know if it was hunting _you_ specifically? These things attack any human they see."

Now the pilot started rambling again, talking about how it had ignored anything else and zeroed in on him from the moment it saw him, and then something about having to leave everyone else behind in order to get away, before the tears started to flow. With shaking hands, Brad tried to pour himself another shot, but ended up dropping the bottle so that it smashed to pieces on the floor… probably a good thing, since Jill was about to cut him off anyway.

"I'm a coward, Jill, I'm a _fucking_ coward!" He yelled, burying his face in his hands and sobbing uncontrollably. "I left you guys to die in the woods when those dogs attacked last summer, and Lieutenant Liquid tried to save me from that thing yesterday, and I left _him_ , too… I left him and that girl to get killed by that monster at _Raccoon Street Station_ while I stole the cable car to save myself!"

There was more to be said, but it came out as a bunch of sobbing slurs that sounded like a whole bunch of words strung together to make one big one. The part about him leaving people to die wasn't too hard to believe, since he had done it twice to her already, but the rest of his story must have been some kind of fevered hallucination. For one thing, all public transit had been shut down from the power company by order of the Mayor, so he couldn't have used a cable car, and as for that other part…

"Brad, I know you're scared, but you need to listen to me." She said, patting him on the shoulder. "Tobias Liquid has been in a coma since last spring, with like, no brain activity, so he _couldn't_ have been there with you yesterday. You must have imagined it to somehow, oh, I don't know… help you get through what has been happening in the city, but if you come with me to the station, I might be able to rescue both of us, okay?"

"You think I… I imagined him?" The pilot asked, slowly sitting up. "But I saw him, he was fighting it, and… and… he knocked it down. But… wait… no one could be _that_ strong, I… oh God, I _am_ hallucinating! Did I imagine the monster, too? Jill, I'm losing my mind!"

Okay, maybe _one_ more drink for him, the young woman thought as she gave him another shot, this time of the _really_ strong stuff on the back shelf. There were no words to describe how glad she was that Brad's story turned out to be mostly imagined, and now that he was coming back into reality, it was going to be a lot easier for them to get to the police station. At first he didn't want to go, since apparently this was the first mostly safe place that he had found in a while, but after Jill explained her plan to use the radio to call for help, he seemed to be a little more onboard.

It was also nice to have bullets for her pistol again, even though it was only a single clip, since he only had two left. Oh well, better than being unarmed, she thought while walking toward the back door, and even if it _was_ Brad Vickers who she was stuck with, an extra weapon to fight off the infected was _always_ welcome. What wasn't welcome, however, was how closely he clung to her once they stepped back outside.

The back door of Bar Jack led into a narrow alleyway, that like the others, was dotted with trash cans and heavily spray painted with graffiti, but was thankfully empty of the infected. This didn't stop the pilot from keeping himself pressed up against her, gripping his pistol so tightly that his knuckles were white, and shaking so badly that for a moment Jill thought that _she_ was the one who was scared. A couple times she tried to elbow him back to give her a little space, but he just came right back until she gave up and just kept moving.

Taking their time in moving around the cans and dumpsters, so as not to make any noise that would attract the monsters, the two of them made their way toward the far side of the block, away from the distant sounds of the zombies who were still trying to figure out how to get through Bar Jack's front door. And they could stay there forever, as far as the young woman was concerned, because once they found their way through the narrow alleyways, the police station was only a block or two away.

Of course, Jill had never gone through this particular set of alleys before, so they ran into a few dead ends, having to turn around and even deal with a stray zombie or two, with which the ever _chicken-hearted_ Brad was next to no help at all. Instead of finding a way to help deal with the threat in a quiet way, or even just shooting the damn thing, the pilot cried out like a twelve year old girl who just saw a spider, which ran the risk of bringing in more of them.

To be fair, he did shoot once or twice, which was actually helpful… however, it was during those times when the young woman had been trying to deal with the threats quietly because there were more of them right around the corner. Eventually Jill lost her patience with sneaking around, and used her pistol to shoot off the padlock on the service door of a business. Yes this drew in some more of the infected people, but it wasn't like she was planning to use the place as a hideout or anything.

"Come on!" She urged, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him into the darkened building. "If we can get through, then the RPD will be right there."

Only the back-most room was darkened, it turned out, and when the two of them stepped out into the main room of the building, it was discovered that they had entered the largest of the local bookstores. The young woman had been there many times while searching for something to read during her more quiet weekends, but what pleased her the most about having to cut through this place, beyond that there was no one inside, was the fact that the police station was just a stone's throw from the front entrance.

The bookstore looked mostly untouched, since she supposed that books were not exactly high on people's list of lootable materials during a crisis, nor was it the first place that scared people thought to hide when the undead walked the streets. This just meant that it was going to be really easy to get through, and that was nice, especially since there turned out to be no firearms underneath the bar in Bar Jack… only a baseball bat… making her think of the survivors that she had left at the warehouse.

Were they still alive, she wondered? The baseball bat that she had taken from the bar, was what the young woman used to keep the back door of this place closed so that the zombies couldn't follow them, and as for the survivors who had pretty much kicked her out… well, maybe she could still send help for them once they reached the radio equipment in the STARS office of the police station. Wow, what luck, Jill thought when she saw that there were no zombies standing around in front of the large windows of the bookstore… now was their chance.

Even though Brad wanted to stay there and hide for a while in order to make sure it was safe, the young woman once again pulled him along as she pushed open the flimsy metal front door, and they passed under the lighted sign that simply read _BOOKS_ on their way out. Oh, thank God, the police station was only about a football field's distance away, so they started walking toward the high metal gate that surrounded the precinct, when she stopped as a strange sound reached her ears.

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

Out there in the middle of the abandoned street, it was hard to tell which direction the strange thumping sound was coming from. Let's see… there was crackling coming from a burning car that was crashed into a light pole not far from there, so that wasn't it… a little farther down the street a fire hydrant had broken, and water was gushing out, so not that either… hold on, now the thumping sound was getting a little louder, and Jill was so focused on finding it that she didn't realize until a moment later that Brad was urgently tapping her on the shoulder.

"Damn it, Brad, what is it?" She asked, following the direction that he was pointing. "I'm trying to… who the hell is _that_?"

Following the terrified man's finger, the young woman looked and saw that a long figure was slowly walking toward them, down a part of the street where the buildings kept it mostly shadowed from the bright sun, so much in fact that it made the figure's features hard to make out. Whoever he was, he was tall, really stocky like a linebacker, and baldheaded… seeming to notice them at the same time, because the thumping sounds stopped when he did, and now she and the figure were just staring at each other.

"What's that guy doing over there?" She asked, squinting to see better through the sunlight. "He's just kind of… standing there."

"J… Jill… we gotta go." Brad whimpered, now being the one to pull on her arm. "Jill, we gotta go right now, come on. Come on… that's _him_!"

Like before in the bar, the young woman tried to get the hysterical pilot to calm down, but then she heard something that made a knot form in her stomach, and it wasn't Brad's chattering teeth, nor was it the _thud-thud-thud_ of when the figure started walking toward them. It was a word… a single word that awoke a nameless fear in her heart when it cut through the silence like a chainsaw.

" _Sstarss_." The figure growled in a deep, inhuman voice as it got closer.


	9. Chapter 9 Sewer Demons

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Nine: Sewer Demons**

 _Click… click… click_ , the sound of something lightly tapping against the stone surface of the sewer tunnel continued to slowly get louder as if something were approaching, but as the three soldiers scanned the area with their flashlights, they saw a whole lot of nothing. Scooting so that they were now back to back facing three directions, while also continuing to move down the corridor, Carlos was confident that nothing could sneak up on them like this… until the tunnel opened up into a wide chamber.

Branching out into three or four separate routes that could be taken from the central junction, this area was partially illuminated by the sunlight coming down from a grated storm drain cover, but their flashlights were still needed to see the darkened corners. This place was even more acoustic than the tunnel, with every noise echoing off the walls sound like it was coming from all directions at once.

"Keep moving toward nearest tunnel." Mikhail whispered. "Olivera, aim light at ceiling just in case…

They had just been passing under the grate at the center of the chamber, when the Captain's words were interrupted by a flash of dark movement when part of something large passed through the light beam as it dropped down from its hiding place. For a moment the chamber was filled with startled gasps and groans as all three of them were knocked to the damp concrete floor by the weight of… whatever it was that had just landed on them.

Whatever this thing was, its exterior was hard, yet crunching a little when it hit the floor, like a shell, and the thing was back on its feet before the three soldiers even had a chance to start scooting away. The young man aimed his rifle toward it as soon as he had enough room to do so, but he was not prepared for what he saw in the center of the flashlight's beam… nor was the creature, by the look of things, since it made an almost surprised sounding noise that was like a mix between a hiss and a shriek while jumping backwards.

Unlike the zombies that shambled their way around on the surface, this thing was yellowish-green in color, with six powerful legs that each ended at a sharpened point, and a hardened exoskeleton that covered its whole body. For the second that it was in the light before shrinking away, Carlos had seen his own face reflected in the shiny surface of its many eyes, and when the thing shrieked, its long jagged mandibles had opened almost wide enough to bite off a man's head.

 _Ratta-tat! Ratta-tat!_ Mikhail was the first one to start shooting at the insectoid creature, causing a small spray of greenish blood as the bullets pierced its exoskeleton, causing it to rear up to its full height of more than six feet as it scurried away to find cover. Using short controlled bursts to save ammo, the Captain kept shooting at the giant insect, joined by Nikolai a moment later, but by the time that the young man was on his feet to join them, the creature had escaped by climbing up the wall into the darkness.

"Where did it go?" The Lieutenant asked, scanning the ceiling with his light. "Can you see anything?"

"The blood trail goes up there, over that arch." Carlos replied, pointing with his own beam. "Should we go after it and finish it off?"

"No, we must escape." Mikhail decided. "Continue down tunnel, and leave monster here to… Olivera, look out!"

Hearing a clicking sound on the ceiling right above him, the young man looked up and gasped just in time to see the giant insect diving right for him… and he would have been killed for sure if the Captain hadn't shoved him out of the way at the last second. Carlos was knocked off his feet, hitting the ground the same time as the insect landed, and then the chamber echoed with an outcry of agony when one of its sharpened legs stabbed right into Mikhail's lower torso so that the tip was sticking out his back just a little.

Thankfully the ends of the creature's legs were small, so it wasn't like he was cleaved in half or anything like that, but the scream that came from his lips was awful to hear… although there was _one_ single good thing that came from this situation. With the giant insect right there stabbing into him, it wasn't able to get out of the way when the Captain used his free arm to raise his rifle once again. _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta!_ Now it was the creature's turn to scream when the chamber was filled with the light and noise of fully automatic gunfire… gunfire that went right into its soft underbelly, spraying out green blood and bits of exoskeleton while the creature convulsed.

In about ten shots or so, the gunfire stopped as the creature collapsed in a pile of its own filth, causing Mikhail to scream again as well when its fall caused the sharp leg to be ripped back out of his wound, with Carlos and Nikolai having to catch him by the arms so that he wouldn't fall over. Okay, he might have been hurt… pretty badly judging by how much blood there was, but at least the creature was dead, and now they just had to get to…

 _Click… click… click_ , all three of them froze as the sound of another set of sharp legs moving slowly along the walls was heard… and then another… and then _another_ … from different directions. This time it was Nikolai who gave the order for them to not only keep going, but to _run for it_ , and with the two of them pretty much picking up their wounded Captain, they moved down the tunnel as quickly as they could, while the sound of hissing and shrieking insects could be heard behind them.

As they moved down the corridor, it became less like a sewer and more like maintenance access like the one leading from the pharmacy, giving the young man hope that it would end at another ladder. Sure enough it did, but the metal hatch at the top was closed, and probably going to be just as hard to pull open as the last one was. Well, whatever they were going to do, it needed to be done fast, because the sound of the approaching insects was getting closer, no doubt following the trail of blood being left by Mikhail.

"You hold them off." Nikolai said, moving toward the ladder. "I will open hatch, then you come up after I help Mikhail through."

There was no time to argue, so while the Captain leaned on the ladder and the Lieutenant climbed toward the hatch, Carlos took a ready stance just in front of them as the first of the insects came into view. There must have been a nest or something down there, because suddenly there were like a dozen of them crowding around at the entrance to the corridor, but as the young man aimed at the nearest one to start shooting, something unexpected happened.

He had thought that he had just startled the first insect, and that was why it shrieked, but when the beam from his flashlight shined onto this one's face, it made that same sound and jumped back. The same thing happened a second later when another one tried to advance by climbing along the tunnel wall, shrieking when the beam hit its eyes, and then falling to the floor and scurrying away behind the others. This must have been why they were down in the tunnels, at least during the daytime, so as long as the flashlight held out, they should be fine until…

 _Screech_! A high-pitched sound of rusty metal now filled the tunnel, seeming to bother the insects just as much as it did Carlos, but then he breathed a sigh of relief when the hatch was pushed open, and more sunlight flooded the tunnel, forcing the creatures to back off a little more. Working together now that the young man didn't have to hold the flashlight, he and Nikolai managed to help their wounded Captain climb his way up the ladder, with the Lieutenant pulling him the rest of the way, and then followed by Carlos, who kicked the hatch closed as soon as he was through.

Not an instant after it was closed, the muffled sound of the insects could be heard, shrieking angrily as they swarmed through the tunnel below, clawing their way up the ladder and smacking against the metal hatch, but apparently lacking the intelligence needed to turn the locking wheel on their side after the young man locked it from on top. _Screech_! Now it was sealed, and after a minute or two the insects below gave up, scurrying off to find other prey while Carlos looked around at his surroundings.

First, though, now that the danger was briefly over, his mind had a chance to briefly ask himself _que mierda estaba mal en esta citudad?!_ Seriously, it was hard enough to wrap his head around there being a place in the world where the dead _actually_ rose from the grave, but now there were giant insectoid monsters down in the fucking _sewers_?! From the looks of Raccoon City, it was probably a nice place before all this _mierda loca_ happened, but everything was new looking there, so it couldn't have happened too long ago.

"Olivera, wake up!" Nikolai's voice demanded, bringing him back into reality. "Give me all bandages, and then try to find First Aid box."

Right, he had to keep focused on the most important things, and right now that was helping Mikhail. So he handed over everything that was inside of the medical pouch they had all bene issued, which wasn't much, and then took another look at where they had ended up. The smell of motor oil and grease was in the air, and in this plain looking room with only a single small window and a closed rollup door at the far end, he realized that it was a repair shop that they were in.

Some used tires were stacked against the wall, and there were tool boxes stacked together by a bunch of spare car parts… which were probably for the partially stripped down old car that was up on the lift. It was an old beat up thing, stripped down to the point where they could never even think of using it to escape, and beyond a few bottles of various different kinds of machine oils, there wasn't really much back there. Beyond the small open doorway next to Nikolai, on the other hand, was a different story.

When Carlos saw what was in the front room, as well as outside of the large windows by the door, he realized that this place wasn't just a garage, it was a gas station. There were a couple sets of self-service pumps underneath a covered area next to a giant illuminated sign that said _STAGLA_ , and underneath it was a sign that advertised gasoline at a dollar twenty five a gallon… _a dollar twenty five a gallon_?! Holy shit, I mean it was nice to pay by the gallon instead of the liter like the rest of the world, but a dollar twenty five?! What, was this city populated by _millionaires_ , or something?

The rest of the place was pretty common; candy bars and sodas up front, oil and other things on the shelves, a couple bathrooms in the back… but what he _really_ needed was a First Aid box… without it, Carlos didn't know how long the wounded Captain was going to last.


	10. Chapter 10 The Pursuer

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Ten: The Pursuer**

"Jill, come on!" Brad yelled with terror in his voice as he pulled on her arm. "Jill, run! _Run_!"

Even though it was now walking toward them, it was a good distance away, and the shadow of the building made it so that the young woman couldn't get a good look. Something about this ominous figure frightened her, though, enough so that when the pilot grabbed her hand and literally pulled her along with all his strength, she didn't have a problem following along. Suddenly a powerful, monstrous roar echoed all around them, and even though Jill was no longer facing the figure, she could hear that it was running after them.

 _Thud-thud-thud_ , its heavy footsteps slammed into the pavement, sounding like it was gaining on them even though the two of them were now sprinting as fast as they could toward the gate of the police station's courtyard. Part of her wanted to look back and see clearly what it was that Brad was so afraid of, but as its thundering footsteps continued to get closer, the young woman decided that it was better to just run away… especially since all they had to defend themselves with were their two pistols.

 _Screech_! The barred metal gate in front of the RPD was unlocked, thank God, and gave way enough for them to squeeze through even though the hinges were getting heavily rusted from lack of maintenance, but the pilot didn't stop running just yet. Keeping his grip on Jill's hand, he seemed to run even faster across the stone pavers of the courtyard, so much that it was hard for her to keep her balance as they made a bee-line toward the heavy front doors.

 _SMASH_! The two of them were just passing underneath the archway where a tattered blue flag with the RPD emblem was blowing in the light wind, when it sounded like the barred metal gate behind them was knocked completely off its hinges, making a second, smaller _crash_ when it hit the ground. Those hard footsteps hadn't even been slowed down by the obstacle, and the thing chasing them was now close enough for the young woman to hear it growling as she yanked open the police station's front door.

Diving through, and then slamming it shut just before the hulking figure reached them, Jill reached over to the side and pulled down the old fashioned wooden bar that locked itself down into the handles of the double doors so that they couldn't be opened form the outside, and now all they could do was hope that it would hold. Back when this place had been a museum, before all the renovations turned it into a police department, the front doors and their locking bar had been more of a display piece, but the bar itself was beam that was almost as thick as a telephone pole, so it should have been able to stand up to damn near anything.

 _Bam!_ Suddenly the doors were struck by what sounded like a battering ram, making them push inward just a bit, and causing the two of them to jump a little. The beam creaked and shook from the following blow… and the next one… and the next one, and it even sounded like it was cracking just a little… but it held. Now Jill and Brad were just standing there, waiting and watching to see what was going to happen next, and then the unseen figure roared hard enough to shake the small windows above the door.

" _Sstarss_." That awful, inhuman voice said again, this time sounding almost frustrated as its heavy footsteps moved away.

Now everything was silent again, with neither of them moved for the longest time, until Jill realized that he was still holding her hand, and pulled it away. Well, they had made it to the RPD, and that… whatever the hell it was that had been chasing them couldn't get in for now, but that didn't mean that they were safe. Even though they had avoided whatever horror was waiting outside, this was still Raccoon City, and it was entirely possible for the police station to be just as dangerous as it was on the streets.

The main hall didn't seem too bad though, at least form first glance; the upper floor walkways that wrapped around the long rectangular chamber showing no signs of activity, nor was there any movement on the first floor near the large decorative statue or near the reception desk near the back wall. In fact, this whole place looked pretty much untouched by the chaos outside, and if that was true throughout the rest of the precinct as well, then all they had to do was get to the STARS office and call for help, and then… maybe just wait on the rooftop heliport for rescue or whatever.

"You said… you said it wasn't real." Brad whimpered, his hands starting to shake as he backed up toward the nearby wall. "You told me I imagined the whole thing, but… but he's real, Jill… he's real, and… oh, my God, I _really_ left them there to die!"

"Brad, stop, you have to calm down." The young woman whispered urgently while walking up to him. "Maybe if we're real quiet, that thing out there will give up and move on like all the other monsters."

Even before the pilot started ranting about how persistent the thing chasing him was, and reminding her that it had tracked him there from all the way back at the city clock tower, Jill had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that this thing was different from all the other monsters that she had encountered so far… beginning with the fact that it could _talk_. Even while facing Tyrant back at the Spencer Estate, the unkillable monster had been just that, a _monster_ that acted like all the other feral beasts who were victims of the T-Virus… but this thing had fucking _talked_.

"We're _trapped_ in here, Jill!" Brad continued, getting louder in spite of her warnings. "Bullets don't hurt him, _nothing_ does… he's gonna find us, and we're _both_ gonna die!"

Oh Lord, the young woman thought while trying not to get infected by his hysteria herself, if there was _ever_ a time when she needed him to _not_ be Brad Vickers, it was right now. They might have been safe for the moment, but if this chickenhearted jackass kept getting louder like he was, then any infected people inside the police station were going to be drawn right to them. Why, oh _why_ couldn't it have been Chris Redfield or Barry Burton, or even Rebecca Chambers who was with her?

"Brad, listen to me, okay?" She asked, putting her hands on his shoulders. "We are not going to die… that thing can't find us in here, so we're safe, but I _really_ need you to shut the fuck up so that nothing _else_ does, either. Now take a deep breath… and act like a _man_ … so we can get to the radio and tell someone to come and rescue us… okay?"

It took a second, but eventually the pilot nodded, and after a few deep breaths, they were ready to start moving toward the STARS office. Jill didn't like having to tell wimpy guys to act like men in order for them to be brave and worth a damn, since _she_ was able to do both these things while absolutely _not_ being a man herself. Not that she didn't get scared at times, such as one particular incident with giant spiders at the Spencer Estate… but even then she had kept on going, simply because there had been no other choice.

The good news was that the pilot was moving again, but just like he had done in the alley behind the bookstore, Brad was standing so close to her that he was becoming more like a second skin as they walked across the highly shined Terrazzo floor. Power was still going to this place, since the big overhead lights were on, but the water in the decorative fountain was no longer running… which was probably a good thing since again, she didn't know exactly how the virus had spread throughout the city.

Light was coming from the monitor of the reception desk's computer as well, so instead of going right through the wooden side door that would take her toward the STARS office, the young woman went around the large, half circle desk and sat down on the surprisingly comfortable office chair. The information in the machine wasn't exactly helpful, nor did Jill really know her way around a computer, at least not as well as she did when it came to shooting or picking locks, but she was able to pull up a couple things.

Most of it she already knew; the US Army was putting up barricades around the city for quarantine purposes, the Mayor had ordered all public transit to be shut down, and the RPD was engaged in rescue operations throughout the different districts… hopefully some of them had gone better than the one she had been a part of. That was really about it, at least as far as the computer was concerned, so she turned her attention to the desk itself, opening the drawers and looking through the attached filing cabinets to find… nothing.

Okay, there were plenty of reports and files and other things, but as far as bullets or another weapon, it was like the universe was suddenly against her… but hey, at least there wasn't another God damn baseball bat. It was funny, since Raccoon City was in a mostly rural area where everyone in the towns that were outside the city hunted, the young woman had always figured that almost everyone _inside_ the city owned firearms as well, but apparently this was not the case. Maybe if they had, then the zombies wouldn't have taken over as quickly, and the people of the city would have had a chance.

"Brad, we're going to be okay." She said, noticing that the pilot was starting to get nervous again, the way he kept looking all around. "All we have to do is get to the STARS office, and everything will be all right."

"I know that… I know we can call for help." Brad replied, trying to keep himself from shaking as he kept looking back toward the front door. "But, Jill, he's… he's _still_ out there."

A chill went down her spine as she looked over at the barred doors, with the silence of no activity actually making her feel more uneasy while they both listened for the slightest noise, but except for the _hum_ of the computer next to her, there was just nothing. If this thing was really as persistent as the pilot said, and it was specifically targeting STARS members for some reason, then why wasn't it still trying to force its way through the doors? She doubted that it would just wander away like the other monsters, but… but what the hell was it doing out there?


	11. Chapter 11 Central Station

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Eleven: Central Station**

After searching throughout the entire main room of the gas station, Carlos managed to find the First Aid box hidden underneath the cash register counter, and even though some of the contents were not exactly… meeting their recommended expiration date, it was better than nothing. Honestly, Mikhail's wound required a hell of a lot better treatment than he and Nikolai were capable of providing, but maybe it would allow them to keep him alive until they could get the help they needed.

Even though the gas station's aid supplies were all expired, the alcohol inside still worked to clean the wound, and the bandages still held in place, while the morphine might have actually gotten _stronger_ because of its age. It took most of their aid supplies, but the bleeding was stopped, and the wounded Captain didn't seem to be in nearly as much pain now… at least until they tried to move him. No choice, though, and it was actually Mikhail's idea that they try to find a better location, since this place was not exactly defensible if the zombies found them again.

Of course, there was no way for them to call for extraction even if they found a better hideout, since both radiomen were among the first to fall when they arrived. Carlos had seen a lot of things since arriving in Raccoon City, but one thing he _hadn't_ seen was any kind of radio transmitter, well… maybe the _policia_ had one, but according to the city map that the young man found on a rack near the front door, the precinct was pretty far away… not a trip that they could risk with Mikhail, nor alone even if one of them stayed with him.

"Here, look at this." The Lieutenant said, pointing to a spot on the map that was labeled _Central Station_. "I think this is cable car platform, and look… is not far from here, and line runs directly to Raccoon Street Station, right next to clock tower."

He was right, Central Station was only a block or so away, as long as they cut through the City Hall grounds, and they could help the wounded Captain make it that far. Then all they had to do was get the cable car moving, which shouldn't be too hard, and ride it all the way to the extraction point at the clock tower. There was no way Carlos was going to risk using the sewers again, not with those giant insects down there, but as long as the three of them stayed quiet, and stuck to the shadows, hopefully the zombies wouldn't spot them.

"Try to walk slow, da?" Mikhail groaned painfully, leaning heavily on the young man after being helped to his feet. "Nikolai will do shooting, you just keep moving… ready?"

Honestly, Carlos didn't think that anyone would ever be _ready_ for this city, but there was no choice if any of them wanted to go home, so once the Lieutenant opened the front door, Carlos began the slow and painful process of helping the wounded Captain walk. He did a lot better than expected, just shows how tough the old Russian was, and he damn sure stayed a lot quieter than the young man would have, especially each time his wound started bleeding again, but thankfully there was a lot of cover to keep them hidden, at least once they crossed the street over to City Hall.

There was no need to try and enter the large building, itself, which was a good thing since it was probably filled with zombies, and the courtyard itself was surprisingly empty. It was almost like a small park; lots of planted trees and hedges providing a stark green contrast to the rest of the city, while a paved sidewalk kept them from having to make too much noise by going through the fallen leaves or anything like that. A tall, bronze statue of some guy holding a large round… what the hell was that, a compass maybe? Whatever it was in his hand, the statue dominated the center of City Hall's rear courtyard, and Central Station was coming into view at the far end.

For a moment Carlos thought it was odd that a major cable car platform would have been built right behind City Hall, which was obviously much older… but then again he supposed that sort of made sense, because it would also allow the Mayor to easily travel around the city. Oh well, regardless of how much sense it made, he wasn't going to complain about how close the place was, since Mikhail was a lot heavier than he looked… but why was the car just sitting there? If it was so easy to get to, then why hadn't survivors been using it to take one of the other lines that he had seen on the map, uh… _Arklay_ or _Stone Ville_ to get out of the city?

The answer to this came only after getting the wounded Captain all the way to the car that was stopped on the tracks, and climbing onboard to find that it was not operational. Unlike the rest of the city, the lights that ran along the ceiling of the cable car were out, but luckily it was daytime, so the light coming in through all of the windows on both sides allowed them to see that there were no zombies hiding among the rows of seats. This vehicle was also made of two sections, with the controls being located at the front, and the engine itself being in the rear section like an old fashioned car.

"Put Mikhail down there." Nikolai said, pointing to a longer bench that was along the wall of the rear section. "Then come help me remove engine panel."

Another groan of pain came from the wounded Captain, followed by a sigh of relief once he was able to lay down and rest on the bench, and now that he was secure for now, Carlos was able to go and help the Lieutenant. Along the back wall there was a section of lower paneling that was able to be pulled out, and once the two of them opened it, a large electrical engine was seen inside. It could only have been electrical, the young man thought while Nikolai looked it over, or else the smoke and emissions inside would have choked anyone trying to ride inside, not to mention the noise… hopefully this would be as simple as throwing a switch, and they could get out of there.

"Oil level is dangerously low." The Lieutenant said after taking out the dip-stick. "Must have been ready to add more, and been… _interrupted_ by zombies, maybe."

"Why does it need oil?" Carlos asked, looking at the clearly _electrical_ engine. "Doesn't it just need a voltage current to move?"

Even though the engine itself was electrical, there were still metal moving parts, which Nikolai explained still needed oil to function so that they didn't lock up and fuse together in the middle of a transit. All right, that explained why the power was off, and the Lieutenant didn't dare try to turn it back on until the levels were full, so he pulled the manual out of its sleeve that was mounted on the inside of the panel, and found that it needed something called _Gear Oil EP 220_ … which the young man had never heard of.

The good news was that it was probably stocked at that gas station they were just in, and it wasn't too far away, but there was now a second problem, shown when it was noticed that Mikhail's wound wasn't being kept closed by the bandages like it had before. In fact, now it looked like he was bleeding even more than when he was first stabbed by that incest monster. According to the city map, the hospital was right next to the clock tower where they were going, but the wounded Captain was losing a good amount of blood… would he last that long?

"We have better chance of survival with _three_ of us." Nikolai commented, looking gravely at Carlos. "I will stay here and try to control bleeding with last of supplies… _you_ must retrieve two things we need to get out of here."

It made sense that the Lieutenant be the one to stay with Mikhail, since the young man didn't have any real medical training, which left him to go back to the gas station by himself and retrieve the needed machine oil. However, since the wounded Captain probably didn't have that kind of time, it also fell on Carlos to retrieve what Nikolai called _Hemostatic_ , a medicine that closed up internal bleeding… something that in America could only be found either inside of a hospital… or in the secured back area of a pharmacy.

He still had the city map, and backtracking to places he had already been was a hell of a lot easier than trying to explore new ones, and although the gas station should have been easy to get to for the oil since it was right across the street… for the pharmacy he needed to choose between zombies on the streets or monsters down in the tunnels. Neither way sounded very good as far as he was concerned, but the insects were fast, and at least on the surface there was room to run away from a bunch of slow moving zombies if he had to.

"Okay, I'll get the oil last, since it'll be harder to carry than some medicine." The young man said, reloading his rifle. "But I'll have to stay on the streets to get back to the pharmacy… don't want to face those insects in the sewers on my own."

"You are brave boy, Olivera." Mikhail groaned, starting to try and sit up but changing his mind. "Stay quiet… stick to shadows… only fight if no choice."

This was all good advice, but right now the wounded Captain needed to rest, so Carlos simply nodded, and then took a deep breath before stepping out of the cable car. Nikolai closed it from inside as soon as he was out, and now, for the first time since arriving in this _ciudad de pesadilla_ , the young man was alone. Raccoon City had been frightening before, with all its zombies and monsters, but at least he had always had Nikolai and Mikhail there with him… but now this place was even _more_ terrifying.

Not making a sound as he crept away from the platform, the young man crouched behind the first hedge of City Hall's courtyard, and looked at the different paths that he had to choose from. It was tempting to just go back to the gas station and retrieve the oil, but every minute that it took to bring the jug back was another minute that the wounded Captain had to go without Hemostatic… and of course, while the path leading back to the Stagla gas station was empty, the other path going toward the pharmacy led right into a more crowded looking part of the city.

" _Hombre, joder esta lugar_." He said to himself while taking another look around before starting toward the pharmacy.


	12. Chapter 12 Traffic Division

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twelve: Traffic Division**

The fastest way through to the STARS office was through _Traffic Division_ , and since the monster outside hadn't made any noise in the past few minutes, Jill figured that it was safe to start moving, as long as she and Brad stayed quiet. An elevator would have made the trip a lot faster, and she had heard that there were plans to install one in order to meet new city codes or something, but she had also heard that the funds for that had been diverted in order to build a the giant statue of Mayor Warren at City Hall.

 _Click, squeak_ , the door closest to the reception desk was the one they needed, and thankfully it was unlocked, since the young woman had been forced to turn in her precinct keys at the same time as her badge when she and the others got suspended after the Spencer Estate, and now she could see that things were a little… _different_ than she remembered. The long tables and computer work stations were still there, as well as the reception window for talking to people who were in the waiting room on the other side, but there were streamers hanging from the ceiling, and sodas and party hats on the table nearest to the door, as if there was about to be some kind of celebration.

Looking around in the nearby lockers and cabinets, again the young woman didn't find any weapons or ammo, but she did find a card on the table that was made out for someone named _Leon Kennedy_. It contained the usual stupid nursery rhyme, about how the senior guys were going to torture and pick on him for a year until he was no longer a Rookie, as Jill had gotten when she first joined the RPD, but this didn't help her much, so she set the card back down and continued on her way.

" _Great_ time to join the force, Leon." She said to herself, laughing a little. "Welcome to Raccoon City, I guess."

 _Squeak_ … _squeak_ … the old, wobbly ceiling fans provided the only noise in the room that didn't come from her or Brad as they moved to the far end of Traffic Division, where a self-contained office sat in the corner opposite from the door that led into the evidence room. _SGT. MARVIN BRANAGH, DIVISION HEAD_ , was written on the glass window of the door in bold black letters, just like the office of every division head, and although his desk and personal belongings were inside when the door opened, there was no sign of the man himself.

Must have been sent out with all the others to man the barricades, the young woman thought as she looked around the desk and nearby wall locker. All of the drawers were locked, as was the locker, but Marvin always kept the keys underneath the support of a picture frame next to his computer. That picture was of himself and all of the other administrators of the RPD; he was on the far end, Chief Irons was in the center, and the rest consisted of Captains Wesker and Marini of STARS, Sergeant Proske of Burglary, and Lieutenant Liquid of Homicide.

" _Wesker_." Jill hissed to herself, remembering her late Captain's betrayal last summer. "Son of a bitch got what he deserved."

Turning the picture face down so that she wouldn't have to see his stupid, sunglasses wearing face, the young woman grabbed the keys so that she could open the desk, but the only thing useful inside was Marvin's hidden supply of _Snickers_ bars and beef jerky… his guilty pleasures. The candy bars that she had taken from the warehouse were long gone, and there was no telling how long it was going to be before being able to eat again, so she divided up what was there between herself and Brad, and the pilot must have been even hungrier than she was, because he actually stopped trembling long enough to eat it.

Please be something useful inside, she thought to herself while unlocking Marvin's wall locker, please be something there… _yes_! With a strong sigh of relief that came from knowing that her luck was finally changing, Jill had a smile on her face as she reached into the locker and pulled out a _Remington 870 12 Gauge Shotgun_. It wasn't loaded, though… God damn it… okay, no problem… most people didn't store loaded weapons, so she just had to find the box of shells, and… no shells.

"No shells in there?" Brad asked, moving so that he could look inside the locker. "Why the fuck would he keep a shotgun in here but no shells?"

"Relax, there's probably some up in the STARS office." She replied, not sure but hoping. "And keep your damn voice down so that thing outside can't hear us."

Honestly, the best place to find ammo would have been down in the armory in the basement, but as mentioned, Jill no longer had any of her keys, and she wasn't about to spend all night trying to find another one. Plus, they were going to the STARS office anyway to use the radio, so there was no reason for the pilot to panic just yet… not that it mattered to _him_. The shotgun had a shoulder sling attached, so she put it across her back, and together the two of them went over to the door to the evidence room.

Putting her ear to the door, and then sharply _shushing_ Brad so that she could listen for anything moving on the other side… she was glad when there was nothing but silence. Motioning for the pilot to follow her through, the young woman opened the door, and made sure to peek around all the rows of lockers and small storage units for any threats, but again there weren't any. Nothing in this room but a bare concrete floor, dozens of lockers that were all opened with different keys, and a small desk with a chair in the back for reviewing materials.

Looking down at the desk and its sign in/out sheet, the young woman remembered the last time she had needed to review evidence for a case; it was just a month before getting selected for the new STARS unit, when some _freak_ had gotten the idea to rape and kill a bunch of co-eds over at _Raccoon City Community College_. With no visible motive or pattern, aside from all the victims being attractive, slender brunettes, Tobias Liquid had come up with the idea of using Jill as bait by having her go undercover as a college student.

The trap worked perfectly, with the freak revealing himself to be a teacher who attacked his victims when they came to work on a late night project. She had gotten careless though, expecting the killer to confront her directly, and ending up getting stuck with a syringe full of GHB from behind. What the freak didn't know was that Tobias was _also_ there, posing as a night janitor with a fake beard, and his reward for drugging the young woman was getting shot in the chest with a .45… no big loss.

Hard to believe that times like that, when she was helpless and scared out of her mind, could seem simple compared to this T-Virus outbreak that was happening now, and Jill actually found herself longing for the days when a single deranged killer was the worst thing she had to worry about. Shaking her head and moving on, the next door, right near the desk, opened into a long hallway with a tile floor. The design contrasts in this place were left over from back when it had been a large museum, with each area of exhibits having a theme around them so that patrons wouldn't get lost, but that was before her time.

The walls in this area looked like carved white stone, which helped reflect light since honestly, the small fixtures along the one wall were spaced _way_ too far apart for their low-wattage bulbs, and there was a window at the end where the carpeted stairwell started, allowing at least part of the corridor to be flooded with sunlight. There was something _else_ there, too… a woman who was clearly infected, with her discolored skin and blood covered mouth, who was just kind of… standing there, facing the other way like it didn't know what to do.

"I'll get this one, Jill." Brad whispered, aiming his pistol while making sure to still stay hidden behind her. "She won't even know we were here."

"Are you crazy?" The young woman sharply whispered back, pushing his pistol down. "Or do you _want_ that thing outside to know where we are? No shooting, okay? _I'll_ handle this."

Keeping a tight grip on her own weapon, Jill crouched down and started to silently creep her way toward the female zombie. Part of her mind told her that she was the crazy one, not Brad, for trying what she was about to do, but then again it felt kind of nice to be the one doing the hunting for once. Soon she was right behind the monster, listening to it rasp and groan to itself while raising the pistol as high up as she could… and then bringing it down. _Crack_! The zombie let out a surprised groan as the weapon's stock split its skull right open, but the young woman wasn't finished yet.

 _Crack! Crack! Crack!_ Grabbing the infected person by the back of her shirt so it couldn't fall or turn around, Jill just kept slamming her pistol into the back of its head again and again until the monster finally collapsed in the pool of its own foul-smelling blood that was flowing out from the back of its head. This had been overly brutal, sure, but almost no noise had been made, and the young woman would have been lying if she said that destroying the zombie like that hadn't made her feel a little better.

Brad wasn't looking too good, though, as if watching this event had somehow disturbed him even more than everything else he had seen in the city so far. Some of the color had drained from his face, and he was trembling again to the point where he didn't respond the first time that she motioned for him to follow her. Jesus, even _Rebecca_ , who was like, _eighteen_ during the Spencer Estate, had been brave enough to do what needed to be done, and that girl had faced _way_ more horrible things than old _Chickenheart_ Vickers.

"Brad." She whispered sternly, pointing to the floor in front of her. "The zombie is _dead_ … so get your wimpy _ass_ over here right _now_ , or I'm going to _leave_ you here."

Jill never would have left him there, or anyone for that matter unless there was no choice, like with the people at the warehouse, but the threat of being on his own again was apparently harder to deal with than watching her beat a zombie's brains out, because as soon as she said it, the pilot seemed to come back to life. Not staying nearly as quiet as she had been, Brad was over to her side at lightning speed, but since nothing else was moving, the sound of his overly loud footsteps must not have been enough to attract any unwanted attention.

"We're almost there, all right?" The young woman assured him while also looking out the window. "As soon as we get to the radio, we can call for help, and then all we have to do is sit on the landing pad and wait to be rescued."

It was a good plan, or at least the ideal one, and since there wasn't anything they needed inside the old darkroom underneath the stairs, all they had to do now was go to the second floor and get to the STARS office, and this would all be over.


	13. Chapter 13 The Arcade Shops

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirteen: The Arcade Shops**

Even with all of those giant insects down in the sewer tunnels, at least it had been a direct route, instead of trying to somehow make a straight line across a city full of zombies and wreckage barriers in broad daylight. After making his way across the rear courtyard, moving around to the other side of City Hall, Carlos found himself entering a set of crowded side streets, that even though they were off the main roads where the zombie horde had been patrolling, where it became much harder to navigate even with the city map.

The alleyways twisted and turned, passing several back doors to different kinds of businesses as the young man slowly navigated his way through, and there were bodies… several bodies lying within the wrecks of car crashes, but with too much head damage for them to become zombies, he supposed. Wait a second, one of the bodies was moving, so Carlos quickly ducked around a corner, stuffing the map back into his pouch while hoping and praying that the zombie hadn't seen him.

Of course, it must have seen him, or else why would it have suddenly let out a loud groan before shambling its way right toward his hiding place. Well, so much for staying quiet and sticking to the shadows, the young man thought while readying his rifle, wouldn't Captain Victor be proud? Then again, a single gunshot shouldn't attract too much attention, he figured… as long as he could take the monster down in one try. The zombie was shambling closer, and it was now or never, so Carlos stepped out around the corner, raising his rifle and taking aim… just in time for the monster to vanish.

" _Que_?" He asked himself, blinking several times. " _A donde se fue'_?"

Stepping farther out from his hiding place, the young man looked all around, since he doubted that _God_ himself had come down to just _miracle_ the zombie away, and once Carlos finally figured out what had happened to the monster, he couldn't help but laugh. Right where the zombie was standing, there was an open manhole, complete with orange warning cones and caution tape like the city had been about to do some work there before everything went to hell… and the zombie had been so focused on getting him, that the _maldito idiota_ had fallen right in.

Down in the darkness he could hear the zombie's frustrated groans as it tried to find a way up, but then he heard something else… something that chilled him to the bone. It was a clicking sound followed by the same shrieking hiss that he had heard in the sewers, and judging by the way that the zombie's groans were suddenly cut off, there must have been several of those insect creatures attacking it. The sun was still high in the sky, so the creatures didn't dare come out of the tunnels, since they were so sensitive to light, but uh… what would happen once the sun went _down_?

He didn't want to think about that, so after taking the time to carefully and quietly push the nearby manhole cover back into place, the young man continued on toward the pharmacy. This whole area of the city looked a little different from the place where they had first been dropped in by the helicopter, looking more like some kind of commerce center than a downtown residential zone, and that was when he saw the sign. _THE ARCADE SHOPS_ was printed largely at the top of an illuminated banner, and below it were the names of several businesses that occupied spaces inside of this, uh… _plaza_ , he guessed it was called.

 _KOI Japanese Food & Delivery_, _Sal's Shoes & Casual Wear_, _Grill 13_ , _Barber Masters_ , _Carmike Cinema_ … what, these people got a _movie theater_? Oh, it figures, he thought angrily while looking at the sign; the one and only time he was someplace where there was a place for him to see Hollywood Movies right when they come out, instead of waiting a damn year to reach what they called _the third world_ , it had to be in the middle of one of _George A. Romero's_ fucking wet dreams.

And of course, the theater was right near him, too, so close that he could read the sign to see what was playing. _Lethal Weapon 4_ , _Saving Private Ryan_ , _There's Something About Mary_ … man, this was such _bullshit_ , and somehow the young man just knew that if he got out of this mess alive, the company was going to send him to someplace like… oh, hell, anywhere that didn't have a movie theater. If Mikhail's life hadn't been depending on him to get that medicine, Carlos was seriously tempted to blast his way right into the projection room of that place, and just spend the whole zombie apocalypse eating junk food and watching movies.

" _Solo de'jalo ir, Carlos_." He said to himself, sighing with disappointment. " _No es para ti_."

The pharmacy was listed on the sign as well, so the young man left the theater behind, marching angrily toward the direction that the sign told him to go, only to stop in his tracks, all the anger instantly forgotten at what he saw. Now he understood why there had hardly been any zombies at all on the way there… it was because they were all gathered around the broken front windows of the pharmacy. Ahead of the crowd that was made up of a couple dozen of the undead freaks, he could see the familiar inside of the store… as well as the monsters that were groaning and bumping into each other as they searched the aisles for humans.

Well, he had made it to the pharmacy, that was something… but now how in the hell was he going to get past like, _thirty_ zombies in order to go find the Hemostatic medicine for his wounded Captain? Maybe if he knew right where the stuff was, he could run in and shoot a bunch of them in the legs so that they would all attack each other, and… no that was a stupid idea, but maybe… but maybe there was a way to get them out of there.

From what he had seen so far since setting foot inside Raccoon City, these zombies were drawn to any lights or sounds that were commonly produced by humans, maybe out of instinct, or whatever, but if he could somehow produce those same kind of sounds a good distance away, maybe they would follow it. But what could he use to cause such a thing? Shooting something far away was out of the question, because the sound still came from him, and the only things around were a bunch of cars… too bad he didn't have a second person to beep the horn of one of them or something.

Wait a second, maybe he didn't have to… this was America after all, and all these cars looked like brand new '98 models, so didn't that mean they came with all the fancy options… like _car alarms_? Yeah, those loud, annoying sirens that turned on whenever someone touched the car without disarming it, so what if he was to… I don't know, pick up a small rock like that one on the ground, and toss it as far as he could across the parking lot before diving back into cover?

If there hadn't been so many car wrecks, half-assed barricades, and partially destroyed buildings blocking all the roads, he might have just taken a car and used it to get out of the city, but since there wasn't even enough room to use one of them to drive into the zombies, the rock would have to do. So the young man ducked back around the corner just after the rock flew from his hand, and a few seconds later there was a sound of cracking glass, followed by flashing headlights, a repeatedly beeping horn, and the most awful siren that he had ever heard.

As soon as they heard the alarms going off, the zombies all stopped what they were doing; remaining where they were as if frozen, before starting to snarl and groan excitedly as they started shambling toward the sound. The ones outside started trying to get around and over the cars that were in the way, while the ones inside the pharmacy began to throw themselves back over the window ledge the same way they had done to get into the store only a short time ago, leaving only a few clueless monsters still walking right into store aisles for him to deal with inside.

No more of them were trying to get out, and the majority of the horde was now climbing over each other to be the first ones onto the empty car, so it was now or never. Slinging his rifle across his back, and taking the long knife out of his boot so that there wouldn't be any noise, Carlos crouched down and ran as fast as he could over to the broken pharmacy windows, where he did a kind of roll over the bottom frame… only to cause a loud _crunch_ when his boots hit the broken glass that was all over the carpet.

" _Oh, mierda_." He whispered to himself when both he, and the zombie facing away from him at the first aisle froze at the same time. " _No me mires… no me mires… por favor_."

They both just stood there for what felt like the longest time, but then the young man decided that he couldn't afford to waste any more time, since Mikhail was losing more and more blood all the time. These monsters were the dead brought back to life by… whatever, but that didn't mean that they could move around without their spine, so he turned the knife downward in his hand, stepped forward, and stabbed the blade as hard as he could into the base of the zombie's neck.

Carlos didn't trust himself to be able to stab through the skull itself in one blow, so he instead aimed at severing the spine, which left the monster still alive, but unable to use any of its limbs as it fell.. right against the aisle full of things that were mostly made of glass and porcelain… hard enough to knock the whole thing over. _CRASH_! For a moment it felt like the whole world had stopped moving to look at him while every loud breakable thing in the store shattered into a million pieces like _Big Ben_ itself going off, and now not only was every zombie in the pharmacy looking at him… but he could also no longer hear the car alarm going off anymore.

Caution and stealth were no longer an option, so he ran toward the back of the pharmacy, pushing another zombie out of the way as he ran, hard enough to knock over another display aisle, and then leaping across the counter into the secure prescription area of the store. Now not only did he have to find the Hemostatic medicine for Mikhail, but he also had to do it _before_ the main zombie horde got back to the pharmacy.


	14. Chapter 14 Distress Call

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Fourteen: Distress Call**

The main stairwell of the RPD was covered in thick, red carpet, allowing Jill and Brad to walk a little faster without making any noise as they reached the second floor. Now the place actually looked like it was still a museum, at least along the first corridor that went from the stairs to the two wooden doors toward the end. A row of large, expensive paintings and portraits extended right from where the railing ended, all the way down to where a creepy looking statue of a man reaching upward from torment or something, dominated the center of the end, and it was always wondered where they came from, since none of them had been there before the renovations.

It was suspected that Chief Irons was buying all the art himself, but a Chief of Police didn't make _that_ much, but… well, she supposed that a bunch of art depicting bondage and torment was better than more of those stuffed hunting trophies like the ones in Irons' office. Now, _those_ were creepy, especially the tiger, and how it looked like it was still ready to pounce on the young woman every time she had to go to that office.

Thankfully, they were on the other side of the precinct from there, not that Jill expected that a fat slob like Irons could have been able to survive all this time, or anything. Taking a moment to listen with her ear against the wall at the end of the hallway, like she had done with all the others, the young woman was relieved to not hear anything on the other side, but it was strange… there were so few infected people inside this building, not that she was complaining about it, but shouldn't there have been a lot more around?

Maybe it was because of everyone being sent out to help with the barricades and rescue missions, which would make sense because there couldn't be a bunch of zombies if there had been no one inside the precinct to infect. Or, this place was so damn big that there could have been plenty of infected people around, just in another area. Jill didn't like this explanation as well as the first one, but thankfully the STARS office was just around the corner, so there wasn't really that much exploring left for them to do.

"I don't hear _anything_." Brad whispered, looking nervously at the hallway behind them. "Do you think… do you think maybe it couldn't find a way in, and gave up?"

"As long as it can't get in, I don't _care_ if it gives up." The young woman replied, turning the knob and slowly pulling the wooden door open. "We're almost there, come on."

Instead of looking like a museum, or even a police precinct, the next corridor they entered was more like part of the building that had never been finished because of funding issues, with its bare hardwood floor, and single light bulbs that just hung down from the ceiling without fixtures or even cages around them. Sunlight poured in through the small windows on the far wall, revealing that there was dirt and trash on the floor, as well as what looked like old custodial equipment like floor buffers and mop buckets stacked against the support pillars.

Except for the trash and cleaning machines, the part of the precinct had always looked like that, but it was the chosen location for the STARS office, the door of which was right there. _SPECIAL TACTICS AND RESCUE SERVICE_ was written on a plaque on the wall next to the door, and when it opened Jill was able to see a very dusty and neglected, yet mostly untouched office where the two of them used to work. Their individual desks and work stations were larger than the ones down in Traffic Division, but the room was much smaller, with desks like hers and Chris's facing back to back, while Wesker had been given his own space over toward the wall.

It had been fine that he had a much larger area, given that Wesker was their Captain and all… at least _before_ it was revealed just how much of a backstabbing prick he really was. Okay, focus, Jill thought to herself, the radio equipment was against the wall on the right from the door, so she walked over to it, and threw the main power switch. The unit was older, probably left over from the late '80's, but the indicator lights came on, with background static reaching her ears when she sat down and put on the headset.

"All units, this is RPD Central, over." The young woman said into the microphone. "Any RPD units, this is RPD Central, emergency broadcast, over."

There was nothing from the active patrol cars or SWAT units, at least nothing from their radios but static, so she adjusted the frequency, and this time tried to call the _Arklay County Sheriff's Office_ , outside the city. Again there was no response, nothing from any police, fire, or any other emergency bands but static… even on the civilian frequency… Jesus, there weren't even any truckers on the highways responding. She could tell that the radio equipment was working, since the annoying high-pitch sound of the _Emergency Broadcast System_ was coming in clearly, but that was a one-way channel, so… they were alone.

"Did you get anyone?" The pilot asked hopefully as she took off the headset. "Did someone answer you?"

"There… there must be something wrong with the transmitter." Jill lied, not wanting to send him into a full blown panic. "We're gonna… we're gonna have to find another radio somewhere."

No one was coming to help them… this was the awful truth that caused the young woman to have to wipe a tear from her face as it ran down her cheek. Maybe there was no one left to help them, or maybe the city had been left for dead, it didn't matter… she and Brad were on their own, and now they were going to have to find a way to get out of the city on foot… if that was even possible. Going back uptown wasn't an option, simply because of how many zombies were swarming around, and now the people in that warehouse were… it was their own fault, part of her mind said; if they had come with her instead of being so God damn… there was nothing she could do for them, no matter _whose_ fault it was.

"Look around the office." She said, forcing back another tear. "This place hasn't been touched in months, maybe there's some bullets still lying around, or something."

Yeah, okay, don't panic… step one for survival was to see what supplies were already available, and after that the young woman had to figure out where the hell they were going to try and escape to. Uptown was not going to happen, so the only practical choice for them was to head toward the downtown area where hopefully there would be at least some food or water they could find… but where the hell were they going to find a radio? The hospital would have one, but that was _way_ too far to walk, and the fire station was back uptown… oh, shit she had forgotten all about the _press_.

 _Yes_! Ben Bertolucci and all those other annoying ass reporters over at _The Raccoon Press_ had one, since they couldn't chase ambulances or interfere in fresh crime scenes without it. Their print shop was a small building downtown, just across the street from The Arcade Shops; not too far from the RPD, although because of all the car crashes and barricades the young woman had seen coming in… maybe they would have to try and get out through the parking garage. Good, yes, good, if she and Brad snuck out that way, that _thing_ outside would miss them completely, and could spend _days_ trying to get into the precinct while they got away.

"I found some more 9mm ammo." The pilot said proudly, setting some dusty clips on the desk next to her. "And that… _thing_ you use for opening locks, too."

Awesome, now they each had a couple extra clips for their pistols, and with Jill's old lock-picking tool, which she… didn't remember leaving there in the first place, getting into locked doors around the city was going to be a hell of a lot easier. But what about other weapons, or shells for her empty shotgun? In response all Brad could do was shrug and shake his head, causing the young woman to get up and conduct her own search. However, aside from a set of _Brass Knuckles_ inside Joseph Frost's old desk that he must have _forgotten_ to log with evidence, there was nothing.

She put them in her pocket just the same, since it was better than nothing, and after taking one last look at the place where she had worked with STARS for so long, it was time for her and the pilot to move on. Even though they were a little better armed now, with a mostly solid plan of where to go next, that didn't mean that Raccoon City was any less dangerous, in fact now it was even more so with that _thing_ around, as well as them having to go downtown.

"The press building's almost a mile from here." Brad said, his chronic nervousness coming back. "Do you think we can make it all the way there on foot?"

"We'll be fine as long as we're careful and quiet." The young woman replied, slowly opening the office door. "Now, let's move."

There still weren't any signs of movement out in the unfinished hallway, but Jill didn't want to press her luck, so the two of them quietly crept past the custodial machines on their way back toward the art-filled corridor that led back to the stairwell. It was tempting to just throw open every door as fast as she could and run just as quickly all the way to the parking garage on the other side of the precinct just to be out of there, but that way of thinking was more likely to get them killed than taking their time, so the young woman listened at the door before turning the knob and pushing it open.

 _Crash_ … stopping halfway through the door, Jill thought that she heard something, although muffled and far away like someone had knocked a decorative vase over, or maybe glass breaking. Was she hearing things now? No other sounds seemed to follow it, at least none that she could hear from inside that doorway, and after several seconds of silence it was decided that they were safe enough to move on. Must have been something falling over, she thought as the pilot followed her back down the art corridor, and still nothing moved by the time they reached the top of the stairs.

"You… you go first, Jill." Brad said, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. "I'll, uh… watch your back."

"I feel better, already." She replied, shaking her head while taking that first step down the carpeted stairs. "Just stay behind me."


	15. Chapter 15 Rooftop Run

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Fifteen: Rooftop Run**

 _Ratta-tatta! Ratta-tatta!_ The good news was that Carlos had managed to find the Hemostatic medicine that was needed to save Mikhail's life, however it had taken longer than he had hoped to find it, and now the main zombie horde was once again throwing themselves in through the broken window. It might have just been the young man's imagination, but the monsters seemed almost enraged after discovering that there were no humans inside the car where the alarm had been going off, and he might have escaped if it had taken him just a few less seconds to find the medicine and run away.

" _Estu'pido alfabeto ingles_." He grumbled to himself while pulling the trigger. " _No podria ser simple, no_."

The zombies inside the pharmacy were easy enough to handle, each one with a single shot to the head since these American rifles were accurate as hell when it came to controlled shooting, but once the main horde reached the windows, things became a lot more difficult. In droves the monsters threw themselves over the low wall where the windows had been, and although shooting a bunch of them in the legs worked for a while, since a lot of the others attacked them as soon as they fell, the young man just didn't have the ammo to keep this up.

Knocking over another one of the store's display aisles seemed to help for a little bit, trapping several of the monsters underneath it, and the next few as a kind of domino effect took down the rest of them that were still standing… but it wasn't enough to help him escape. Using the fallen racks as stepping stones allowed the young man to get back toward the custodial closet where the survivors of his unit had made their first escape, but even though he had been able to stomp on a few zombie heads along the way, simply moving across the room didn't help his overall situation.

His exit was blocked, there was no way he was going to try running through those insect-filled tunnels on his own, and there were probably just as many zombies out the back door as there had been when he, Mikhail, and Nikolai had come through the first time. In less than a minute he was surrounded, and with the undead closing in from all sides, the only option left was to follow Nikolai's original plan of climbing up onto the roof.

A metal ladder had been permanently bolted to the wall near the janitor's closet, leading up to a trap door that had a padlock on it, but that would be no problem with the use of his pistol. So Carlos slung the rifle over his back, and jumped onto the ladder with the first of the zombies right on his heels, scrambling all the way to the top of the ladder, and shooting the padlock off the latch with a sharp _bang!_

The lock fell off and fell downward, making the nearest zombie groan when it struck him in the head, making the monster nearly lose its balance while the young man pushed the trap door open. Climbing through the open hatch and onto the roof, Carlos then aimed his pistol downward and pulled the trigger, making that same zombie lose its grip when the bullet passed through its head, causing all the other monsters on the ladder to fall down as its body crashed into them.

 _Slam_! As soon as he was on his feet, the young man forced the trap door closed again, but he knew that he couldn't stay on the roof for long, since there was nothing heavy to set on the trap door, and it was only a matter of time before the monsters were able to follow him up. Of course, the hatch didn't lock from the outside, but if he could go over the wall to the roof of the next building before the zombies saw him, then maybe he would be able to still get away.

There were several businesses along this stretch, so he moved over to the waist-high guard wall between the pharmacy and the next one, and was glad to see that the next roof was the same height as the one he was standing on. A rattling sound started coming from the trapdoor just as he was climbing over, and Carlos had just made it to the other side, crouching down lower than the wall as the trapdoor was slowly pushed open. The zombies had a tough time of it, needing to push several times to figure out the right way, but thankfully by the time they started to climb onto the roof, the young man was already nearly to the other side of the next one.

Groans and rasping could be heard as the monsters started to shamble their way around, bumping into each other and climbing over and around the heating and cooling ducts in an effort to find where their intended meal had run off to, and one of them even lost its balance and tumbled over the side of the building that faced the street after climbing too high. _Smack_! Carlos watched it fall and winced a little when the monster's head busted all over the sidewalk, causing several of the zombies still trying to get into the pharmacy to begin a feeding frenzy once it was noticed.

A couple of the ones on the roof tried to join in as well, taking the same falling route as the first one, and splattering their skulls on the sidewalk in the same way as the first one, making the feeding frenzy on the ground so intense and downright disgusting that the young had to turn his head, especially when the others started to rip out the dead ones' intestines and… other parts. As disgusting as it was, this frenzy provided him with the distraction that he needed in order to crawl over the next guard wall in order to crouch down and begin making his way across to the next one.

The pharmacy must have provided roof access for this whole side of the plaza, since so far none of the other rooftops had contained a hatch for climbing down into their buildings, but even if that was the case, Carlos figured that there had to be a fire escape or an external ladder or something on the far end. I mean, they couldn't just leave people to be _trapped_ up there if the one hatch got locked somehow from the inside… could they?

Now it looked like his plan to get away by using the rooftops was going to work, since he was too far away after the next wall for the monsters to spot him easily, and when Carlos looked back at where they all were, he couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw yet _another_ one of the zombies fall head first onto the sidewalk. Hell, at this rate he could have waited behind the first wall, and then climbed back down the ladder into the pharmacy after they all dove off like morons. Oh, well, after turning around and peeking over the next wall, the young man was relieved to see the railings of a fire escape just a few more rooftops over, and good thing too, because he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

" _Adio's idiotas_." He whispered, looking back at the zombies as he slid his way over the next guard wall. " _Divertirse busc… oh, oh, oh no_!"

Expecting to roll over the wall to the next rooftop and continue on like he had done with the last couple, Carlos's quiet words suddenly turned into a surprised outcry of fear when he discovered that the next rooftop was a lot _lower_ than the last two he had been on… about an entire floor lower. It was okay, he thought in a split second as the rooftop rushed up to meet him, falling ten to twelve feet wasn't so bad as long as he tucked and rolled, and in most cases the young man would have been right, but not this time.

Instead of tucking and rolling across the roof on impact, and then simply carrying on after a moment of catching his breath, the roof must have been weakened by all the bad things happening to the city, or maybe just not up to code, because when he tucked in to roll upon hitting the surface… he kept going. _Crash! Crunch! Wham!_ The outside world vanished as he tore right through the roof, breaking right through wood, drywall, and other building materials as he broke right through the ceiling below, landing hard on a stainless steel table, but at least _that_ didn't break.

He was covered with dust from the roof and ceiling, as was everything within a few feet of where he fell, making a small cloud come from his mouth when he coughed while trying to sit up and get a look at his surroundings. The first thing Carlos noticed, once the smoke cleared and his vision came partially back into focus, was that there were no zombies around, thank God. Then he saw that in addition to the long metal table, there were also rows of ovens and fryers, a really large metal refrigerator, and containers full of both dirty and clean silverware.

A _kitchen_? Had he fallen into some kind of kitchen, he wondered during his second attempt to sit up? More smoke from his mouth as he coughed again, and now that the adrenaline from the fall was wearing off, the young man could feel that his whole body was sore, in addition to the massive throbbing on the side of his head. Folded plastic menus and porcelain flatware were stacked in neat rows… except for the ones that had been broken during his fall, and out beyond the cooking area Carlos could see the blurry image of what looked like tables and booths… was this place some kind of restaurant?

Two such businesses had been listed on the directory sign for The Arcade Shops, and this place didn't look or smell like Asian cuisine, so it must have been the other one, the uh… what was it? Oh yeah, the Grill 13. Aside from the damage he had caused, the restaurant looked mostly untouched, like the pharmacy before the zombies busted in, and it was too bad that he was in such a rush to get the medicine back to Mikhail, since it seemed like a nice place to hide out for a while.

Yeah, too bad, Carlos thought, groaning through his third attempt to sit up, but the others were counting on him, so he had to get to his feet. This time through the sheer force of his own will, the young man managed to not only sit up, but also to slide off the table to his feet… only maybe someone should have told his legs about this idea beforehand, because it turns out that they wanted no part of it.

 _Crash_! His legs gave out completely, causing him to fall against some more stacked rows of plates and cups on the way down, so now not only was he covered in dust with a shower of broken porcelain, but now the room was getting darker… no had to stay awake… couldn't lose conscious… the others, they… the others needed him, but… the room… the room so dark…


	16. Chapter 16 Falling STARS

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Sixteen: Falling STARS**

The first floor of the RPD was just as silent as it had been before as Jill crept down the carpeted staircase, followed uncomfortably closely by Brad, at least as far as movement. There was a new sound, however, like air moving around from the recently turned on Air Conditioning system… however, Chief Irons only allowed the AC to be turned on in the middle of summer, and the heat in winter time. So where was the moving air coming from, she wondered while reaching the corner where the stairs turned.

Now the air was moving around a lot, and there was more light coming into the corridor than there had been before… which was probably because the window right next to the stairs on the first floor had been broken out. No, not broken _out_ , the young woman discovered when she got there and took a closer look, judging by all of the glass on the floor near the end of the stairs, it had been broken _in_. And not just glass, but wood from the frame, and a good amount of drywall from the window as if something… really… big… had…

Standing right there looking at the fenced in rear courtyard of the precinct through the hole, a knot formed in Jill's stomach, exchanging terrified expressions with the pilot as they seemed to realize what had caused this at the same time… and then they heard the growl from behind. Something was standing there in the corridor, right behind them… something big… so Jill spun around, planning to start shooting as soon as she saw it… but all she saw was a flash of movement as a very large and powerful hand grabbed her by the throat.

" _Sstarss_." The deep, inhuman voice from before said as the grip tightened.

Brad let out a high pitch shriek as he threw himself out the broken window, but another hand reached out and caught him by the back of the jacket, effortlessly pulling him back into the precinct while lifting the young woman off her feet. In another flash of movement, the hands tossed the two of them away; Jill hitting the floor down the hall toward the evidence room, and the pilot flying right into the closed darkroom door hard enough to break right through with a loud _crash_ as the wooden pieces rained down on him.

The young woman was dazed from being tossed like that, but she shook her head to clear her vision, aimed the pistol to start fighting back… and then froze like a rookie when she finally got a good look at the monster. Seven feet tall, with a massive, muscular frame that she had only ever seen before on Tyrant back at the Spencer Estate, the _least_ frightening feature about this abomination was that it was wearing heavy boots, pants, and a kind of long trench coat that were all made of black leather.

Every exposed part of its skin; hands, arms, neck and head were completely covered with extensive burns and scars, but the _worst_ part was its head. Bald, scarred and burned like the rest of it, there was a discolored graft over most of the right side that was attached with oversized metal staples like it were a last minute thing, leaving the monster without a nose, ears, and only a single eye that was completely white. It might have had lips once, but they were surgically pulled back so that its large white… human looking teeth with discolored gums were always exposed, and she could see the tops of… some kind of purplish… veins or tentacles sticking out from under the coat near its shoulders.

There was another stark difference between this thing and Tyrant, though, besides being shorter and having two hands instead of a claw: Wesker had claimed that Tyrant was _the ultimate biological weapon_ , but that monster had been _obviously_ a work in progress, like an unfinished experiment, while this thing… my God, this one looked _complete_. _Bang! Bang!_ Forcing herself out of the paralysis, the young woman started pulling the trigger, firing her pistol again and again, with each bullet striking a different part of the monster's body while it… just stood there?

Grunting and growling a little each time it was shot, the beast kept turning its head to look at where both she and Brad had fallen, starting to take a step toward one of them but then stopping, as if… as if it were trying to decide which one of them it wanted. _Bang_! Another gunshot, this time from off to the side as Brad _finally_ joined in the fight by shooting the monster in the side of the head, and then the pilot screamed while trying to make a kind of stumbling run around the corner to get past it.

"No!" He shrieked when the beast reached out and grabbed him by the back of the shirt. "Jill, help! Help me!"

She was on her feet again, aiming her pistol to try and save him, but the pilot's body was in the way as the monster lifted him off his feet so that they were at eye level. Brad kicked and screamed as the beast held him there, but now as the young woman tried to aim around him, she realized that the monster wasn't looking at _him_ … it was looking at _her_. Not only that, but each time she tried to line up a shot, the beast growled a little while moving the pilot so that he stayed in the way like a shield, but… but how could it know how to do that?

Brad's screaming and flailing continued until he must have realized that he was still holding his pistol, because he aimed it right into the monsters face and pulled the trigger, making the beast twitch a little… before the pilot screamed when the monster grabbed his arm and broke it at the elbow as easily as if it were snapping a twig. The pistol fell to the floor as Brad started screaming again, this time his pleas for help coming out as incoherent sobs while tears streamed down his face and a large wet stain formed on his pants.

"Stop it!" Jill screamed, shooting the beast in the leg, since it was the only opening she had. "Let him go!"

 _Bang! Bang!_ Pulling the trigger again and again until the weapon clicked empty, all of her bullets had done nothing but make the monster twitch a little, and it kept eye contact with her the whole time… seeming to smile a little when it pulled its free arm back and slammed its fist into Brad's torso hard enough so that she could hear bones cracking while the pilot coughed up a bunch of blood. This was going _beyond_ killing… this _thing_ wasn't just some brainless viral monster who was following instinct… it was _torturing_ Brad… and it wanted to make Jill _watch_.

Fumbling to reload her pistol, the young woman was determined to save her comrade somehow, even if it meant giving him the mercy of a quick death, but by the time her shaking hands managed to put in a new clip and pull back the chamber, it was too late. As if somehow sensing what she was about to do, the monster suddenly pushed the pilot against the wall, put its large hand right in front of his face, and then Brad convulsed when a long purplish tentacle with a pointed end was stabbed right through his mouth… and into the wall behind him after breaking through the back of his skull. The pilot gagged and twitched for a couple seconds before becoming still, and then the beast tossed his body out the broken window like a cigarette butt.

" _Sstarss_." It said slowly, seeming to smile again while turning its body to face her.

She expected it to attack right away, a million horrible scenarios flashing through the young woman's mind as to how she was going to keep it from doing to her what it had done to Brad, but instead of coming right at her, it just stood there like it had done before. What the hell was it waiting for, she wondered as they just stared at each other for what must have been several seconds? It was like one of those _Animal Planet_ shows that Forest Speyer of Bravo Team used to watch where the tiger just watched its prey before the chase started, and…

Oh, my God, was _that_ what it was waiting for? For Jill to run away so that it could… chase her? No, that wasn't possible, this thing was just another monster, and from the surgical marks and scars, created in an Umbrella laboratory just like Tyrant. Okay, so what was she going to do? The shotgun across her back was empty, and her pistol was proven ineffective, but maybe there was something in the hallway around her that could be used for…

Suddenly the monster threw its head back and roared hard enough to rattle the remaining windows; a long drawn out bellow that not only made Jill jump, but also filled her with so much terror that the forgot all about making a plan, instead turning heel and running back toward the evidence room. For several seconds the roar continued, long enough for her to reach the door and pull it open, and then a moment of silence before the monster started running after her. The hallway was long, but so were the beast's legs, meaning that even after slamming the door shut, there were only going to be a couple seconds before it caught up to her.

Maybe it could be slowed down, Jill thought as its thundering footsteps got closer. The rows of stacked evidence lockers were right next to the door, and head to weigh a few hundred pounds each, so she ran around the other side of the last one before the door to Traffic Division, and pushed it with all of her strength. With as small as she was, there was no way in hell the young woman was going to slide any of them across the floor, let alone in time to block the monster's way, but they were top heavy thanks to the most important, and weightiest evidence getting put into the highest lockers, so maybe… she could… knock one… over.

Yes! The whole rack was tilting, but although her plan was to use them to block the door, what actually happened turned out to be even better. Just as the first rack was crashing into the next, the monster rammed its way right through the closed door; skidding to a stop and turning to face the young woman just as every row of lockers became caught up in a domino effect. _Bam. Bam! BAM!_ The beast tried to catch the last row as it fell right toward him, but the combined force of that one and all the others behind it was too much, causing it to growl with strain as it was tackled to the floor, and pinned there under the lockers.

" _Sstarss_!" It yelled angrily while trying to push them back up enough to free itself.

Jill thought about trying to kill it again by emptying another clip right into its face, but it was unlikely to work, and if she got out of the precinct, she was going to need the ammo in order to deal with everything else that was lurking around the city. So she ran, throwing open the door to Traffic Division and running across the room toward the main hall while the monster slowly worked to free itself.


	17. Chapter 17 Homicide Division

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Seventeen: Homicide Division**

 _Clang-clang-clang_! With two doors and a whole room between them, Jill could barely hear the monster's struggled to get out from under the fallen rows of lockers as her feet echoed across the main hall of the RPD. Her first thought was to unbar the front door and run back the way she came, since it was the quickest escape, but the radio that she needed in order to try calling for help again was the opposite way, so instead of going right out, the young woman took a hard left just before the doors, barging her way into the halls that would lead to _Homicide Division_.

Because of the way that the precinct was laid out, from the main hall she needed to go through Homicide, and then down the stairs into the basement in order to reach the parking garage… which was starting to look like the only way out. However, Jill had just passed through the side door of the main hall, only to have to stop in her tracks when the answer to her earlier question was finally answered… that question being _where were all the infected_? They were there… _right there_ , gathered in the hallway on this side of the police station… _dozens_ of them, mostly wearing police uniforms.

Just beyond a row of payphones and a flickering soda vending machine, this small horde of zombies was completely blocking all access to the corridors beyond, however, the wooden double doors that the young woman needed to use were right across the hall from the phones, giving her a few feet of leeway… and the infected officers were only now just starting to notice her. The only choices were to run toward them like an idiot in a desperate bid to reach the doors before they blocked them, or go back into the main hall and risk that monster… the _Pursuer_ finding her after getting free.

"Oh God!" She exclaimed while starting to run toward them. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!"

The infected officers reacted faster than Jill hoped, immediately moving toward her when she went for the doors, but they didn't have a functioning human brain like she did. Instead of going directly for the doors, the young woman ran over to the payphones so that they would all gravitate toward that side of the hall, giving her just enough room to run to the other side and turn the knob. It was unlocked, so she pushed it open just as the snarling infected were starting to reach for her, and then there was a _whack_ sound when she slammed it right into the first zombie's face, turning the deadbolt to keep it closed while the monsters on the other side clawed and groaned at it.

So far the Pursuer hadn't come after her, possibly still trapped while also not knowing which way she had gone, and with all those zombies in the way, there wasn't a way for the monster to track her down, well… unless it went right through them. Like Traffic Division, Homicide was set up with a series of long tables and workstation in the center, with lockers and filing cabinets along the walls… but no infected officers that she could see. Maybe there was some ammo or weapons in this room, so the young woman did a real quick search inside all of the lockers.

A bunch of personal belongings, some makeup, some scratch-off _Lottery_ tickets, a large bag of what she was pretty sure was _Marijuana_ ; just like over in Traffic and up in the STARS office, there was barely anything lying around that was of any use. It was like they had intentionally _hidden_ things around the precinct, but that was a stupid idea… no rational human being would have decided to do that. The only place left was to search the enclosed office over in the corner, so she quickly moved over to it, reading the words _LT. TOBIAS LIQUID, DIVISION HEAD_ on the window before pulling the door open.

Hardly any of Tobias's personal things were inside, since the last thing he had done before being put into a coma was pack everything up for that failed operation in the mountains last spring, but knowing him as long as she had, Jill just knew that there had to be something useful left inside his office… there just _had_ to be. The young woman was along once again, trying her best to not be affected by the gruesome death of Brad Vickers, but without something a little bigger than her pistol, there was no way for her to stand against that monster by herself.

A half empty bottle of _Fighting Cock Bourbon_ was the only thing inside the filing cabinet, which Jill quickly took a drink of to calm her nerves a little before searching the desk, but aside from the personnel files of the people who had gone with Tobias into the mountains, and a bunch of past due electric bills in his name, there was nothing… _nothing_ , damn it, _nothing_. With an angry growl she slammed the desk drawer shut, her last hope at finding anything to protect herself with resting on the locker that was in the corner opposite the desk, just like in Traffic Division.

"Please be something in here." She whispered to herself, putting her hand on the metal door before opening it. "Please, please, please."

Turning the handle, and opening it with a metal scraping sound, Jill was starting to feel like her luck was never going to change… but then she saw it. On the top shelf, behind a dried out pack of cigarettes, was a small box that was labeled Cartridges .12 ga. Shot-shell. _Shotgun shells!_ The young woman's hands were shaking again as she put the pistol in her belt, and opened the chamber of the shotgun that had been slung across her back, her hands fumbling as she shoved the red colored shells into the weapon one at a time. There had only been six in the box, not enough to fill it all the way, but Jill was thankful for them, especially when she heard the commotion outside.

 _Crash_! Out in the hallway beyond the locked double doors, it sounded like something heavy had fallen over, but once the young woman heard the loud heavy footsteps, and the inhuman growl that would forever haunt her dreams, she knew that it was time to go. The monster could be heard growling, and there was a commotion that sounded like it was actually… attacking the zombies that were in the way; groans and pained rasping heard with it as the Pursuer's growls got closer… and closer…

There was still a chance that it didn't know where she had gone, since there were a whole lot of other ways to go from that hallway besides into Homicide Division, so not wanting to lose the chance to escape undetected, Jill left Tobias's office and turned the knob on the door that would lead her toward the basement… only to find it locked. _No, no, no_ , her mind screamed as the commotion outside started to die down. Any minute now the monster was going to come charging into the room with intent to do to her what it had done to Brad, so her first impulse was to shoot off the lock with the shotgun… which would lead it right to her.

Was there enough time to pick the lock silently? God damn it, why did Irons have to take her keys back when STARS was suspended? Slinging the shotgun over her shoulder, the young woman got on her knees in front of the door, trying not to panic as she took her lock-picking tool out of her picket and inserted it into the keyhole. _Smash_! The double doors at the other end of the room were knocked off their hinges as a heavily wounded zombie was tossed through it, and without thinking, Jill rolled backwards underneath the nearby long tables, hopefully before it saw her.

Growling as it ripped the last biting zombie off its shoulder and ripped its head clean off, the monster discarded the body, and then turned around so that it was looking across Homicide Division. _Thud… thud… thud_ , its heavy slow footsteps shook the table a little as it made its way across the room, stopping to look briefly over the cabinets that Jill had searched, before finally entering Tobias's office… and that was when the young woman's heart sank. In her haste to get away, she had forgotten to take the lock picking tool out of the door, and now it was just kind of hanging there for all to see… including the Pursuer.

 _Thud… thud… thud_ , now the monster came back out of the enclosed office, its leather-clad legs stopping right in front of the table that Jill was hiding under, and all she could do was hold her breath and hope that it somehow didn't notice the tool… or her, for that matter. Silence again, only the _squeak_ of the old ceiling fans as they spun around, and the young woman's hand on the shotgun in case she needed to start shooting. There was no guarantee that the larger weapon would work any better than the pistol, but it was all she had, and it wasn't like this thing was just going to let her go.

When it's legs finally moved, the shock was almost enough to make her gasp in surprise, which would have been really bad, but thankfully Jill was able to stop herself while the monster turned back the way it came, and started back toward the broken double doors. _Thud… thud… thud_ , the table shook again as the Pursuer walked away; was it possible that it hadn't noticed the tool and simply thought that she had gone farther into the police station? It kept walking as far as the broken doors, where the remains of a half dozen zombies were lying motionless on the tile floor, now past them, turning right to continue down the hall, and then she could no longer hear its footsteps.

Now her lungs were about to burst from her actually forgetting how long it had been since she started holding her breath, breathing out heavily as she silently crawled back over to the locked door. _Click-click-click_ , the young woman bit her lip, trying to concentrate and control her breathing while she worked the tumblers inside the door, nearly jumping again when the lock finally opened, causing her to turn around and see… nothing. The monster wasn't there, so she turned the knob as carefully as she could, locked the door from the other side once she crawled through, and then quietly closed it behind her.

Not daring to get to her feet just yet, the young woman turned left, and crawled across the concrete floor so that she was staying below the windows in case any more infected were outside, and not getting up until she was at the top of the basement stairs. So far the Pursuer hadn't picked up her trail, and Jill was just starting to relax, standing up in order to go down the concrete stairs down into the precinct's basement, when something crashed down the hall behind her.

" _Sstarss_!" The monster's voice yelled angrily as it started running.

The young woman didn't have to see what had broken to know that it was the door she had picked being broken down. Damn it, even if the monster hadn't noticed the tool the first time, it had definitely noticed when it was no longer there after coming back around, meaning that Jill could no longer be quiet as she ran down the stairs into the basement, toward the parking garage.


	18. Chapter 18 Escape from the RPD

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Eighteen: Escape from the RPD**

Holding onto the railing so that she wouldn't fall, Jill raced down the concrete stairs, three at a time, into the basement of the RPD. Everything echoed more around her now, since the walls, ceiling, and floor were all concrete, including the footsteps of the Pursuer, who was rapidly closing in. A short distance from the bottom of the stairs, there was a directory sign where the corridor split into a three way junction, with the options of the _Morgue_ through a set of metal double doors up ahead, and _Maintenance_ off to the left, while _Armory_ and _Parking_ were off to the right.

The young woman had been working at the RPD long enough to know that the maintenance area was a dead end, as was the morgue, since there were no other exits inside and it only consisted of a single room, so without even needing to stop and read the sign, she made a sharp right turn, and continued sprinting down the hallway just as the monster was heard reaching the bottom of the stairs.

" _Sstarss_!" Its voice echoed from somewhere behind her.

Running right past the secured metal door that was labeled _Armory_ , since she no longer had a key for it and it would take several minutes to pick, Jill rounded the next corner just as the Pursuer ran past the directory sign. It hadn't even stopped to consider the other directions, probably since it could hear her footsteps just like she could hear its own, and at the rate the monster was catching up to her, there was no way she was going to make it to the parking lot… so she did something that it probably wouldn't expect.

As soon as Jill rounded the corner, she stopped, turning around while readying the shotgun, aiming slightly upward to the approximate height of its scarred face, and pulling the trigger as soon as it rounded the corner. _Boom! Click-click. Boom!_ Maybe it was her imagination, but there was an almost surprised expression on the Pursuer's face when it found itself looking down the barrel of her weapon, and the first shell stopped the monster in its tracks while making its head tilt back a little.

The second shell struck it in the neck and shoulder, making the Pursuer take a step back, as did the third and fourth when they hit the monster's chest and face respectively. _Click-click Boom!_ The fifth shell slamming into its mouth was enough to actually put its massive body off balance completely, but now Jill only had a single shell left, and the Pursuer was already regaining its balance. Once the last shell was gone, she would be defenseless, since her pistol might as well have been a kid's water gun for as effective it was, but she had to do _something_ …

In a quick scan of the corridor around them, while the monster finished standing up straight, the only thing that the young woman saw was a big fire extinguisher mounted on the wall right next to it, so she fired the last shell into the red cylinder instead. _POP!_ Jill had never blown up a fire extinguisher before, and it sounded different than she imagined, although the effect was exactly as she had hoped. There was so much pressure inside of the extinguisher that the last thing she saw before the hallway was engulfed in a freezing white fog, was the Pursuer being knocked off its feet, and hopefully it would be lost in the whiteness while she ran away.

Sprinting as fast as she could, the metal door into the precinct's underground parking garage was at the end of this last stretch of corridor, so the young woman shoved it open as she charged through, and then wedged the now useless shotgun into the latch so that it couldn't turn. Jill didn't want to give up the weapon, but she needed to buy herself all the time she could to escape, so in addition to jamming the latch, she turned toward the large flickering vending machine that was right next to the door, and grabbed onto it.

Apparently this was a day of firsts for her, since she had never tried to tip over a vending machine before, either, and it was a lot harder than she imagined, given that the young woman wasn't exactly a big person. So she ended up having to jump up to grab onto the top rear corner of the machine, lifting her legs up to brace them against the wall next to it, and then pushing off as hard as she could. _CRASH!_ The machine's light went out, and she could hear all of the soda cans being knocked around inside as it fell down right in front of the door, and it was a good thing too, since the jammed latch of the door started rattling just seconds later.

Hoping that this barricade would hold the Pursuer back for a little while, Jill turned her attention to the parking garage, where dozens of patrol cars and personally owned vehicles were still parked from the officers who were on duty when everything went to hell. She wanted to use one of them to drive away, but that just wasn't practical with how many roads were completely blocked off throughout the city, so instead she just ran toward the gate at the back. Unfortunately, the metal security grate was down, and she didn't have the key needed to release it, with the lock-picking tool not being an option because the lock was electronic.

"Oh, shit." She said, looking back as the door and fallen machine shook. "Think of something, Jill, _think_."

The Pursuer must have been hitting the door pretty hard, because not only was it shaking, but with every impact the vending machine slid another inch out of the way, and without being able to get the gate open, she would end up trapped inside the nearby holding cells if she kept running… no, there had to be another way. There were a couple of large RPD trucks inside the garage, but the first one that she saw was parked in front of the holding cell doors, and there really wasn't much room to turn it around… but there was another one.

Running over to it as the monster continued to slowly move the vending machine with the door, Jill was relieved to find that not only was the door of the truck unlocked, but someone had left the keys up in the sun visor as well. Hey, maybe her luck _was_ changing, she thought when the engine started right up, putting the large vehicle into reverse, and driving the rear end into the security gate as hard as she could. The gate was tough, a lot tougher than she imagined, with only one of the corners being knocked out of its track while most of it simply warped to the shape of the truck's bumper… and then a roar filled the garage when the monster finally broke its way through the door.

" _Sssstaarrsss_!" It screamed, sounding enraged as it jumped over the broken vending machine to come after her again.

Jill's first thought was to ram the gate again, doing anything that she could to escape from the Pursuer as it ran across the parking garage to kill her, but then she realized… _wait a minute, I'm inside a fucking truck_. Switching gears to _D_ , and then stomping on the gas, the tires squealed, kicking up a lot of smoke as she drive right toward the monster, lifting it off its feet when it was caught by the front end, and carrying the Pursuer with as she drove right toward the concrete wall.

 _SMASH_! It was a good thing that Jill remembered to put on her seatbelt before trying such a desperate act, because the impact completely destroyed the truck's front end and showered her with a rain of glass when the windshield exploded… but the monster was pinned… pinned, and not moving. The impact had partially imbedded the Pursuer inside the concrete wall, with the truck's wreckage holding its powerful arms down at its sides, but who even knew if this was enough to kill it?

Not wanting to take any chances, the young woman pulled the hand brake so that the monster would have a tougher time trying to free itself, well… once her vision had cleared enough to do so, but then she started to panic when she realized that she couldn't get out of the driver's seat, no matter how hard she tried. _Trapped_! Oh no, she was trapped in there with the monster… no, wait a second, she wasn't trapped, her seatbelt was still on. Her body was a bit sore though, making it a little harder to walk once Jill pushed open the busted door and got out… but she had to keep moving in case the thing woke up.

The bottom corner of the security gate had been knocked open during her attempt to ram it, and it was a good thing that she was so slender built, because even after being hit by a two-ton truck, the gate barely moved at all for her… and if her breasts had been any bigger, the young woman might not have been able to crawl underneath it at all. Even with sucking in her already flat stomach and crawling on her back like a worm, Jill was just barely… _barely_ able to squeeze herself through, but she had done it… she had gotten out of the RPD, and so far the monster was still not moving.

Scooting herself over to a shadowy spot over by one of the pillars, the young woman readied her pistol, because although she had managed to get away from the STARS hunting Pursuer, Raccoon City was just as dangerous as ever. There was still plenty of daylight left, though, meaning that it was going to be easier for the infected people wandering around to spot her, but the sun _did_ feel really good on her face after being inside the police station for so long.

Now her thoughts returned to Brad, and another tear ran down her face when she had a vivid flashback of what that _thing_ had done to him… no, she needed to hold back the tears… she could break down and cry for him _after_ getting herself out of the city. The only thing that should have been on her mind right now was getting to the radio inside of the press building near the shopping plaza, which thankfully wasn't too far away… at least not as far as it would have been if she had gone out the precinct's front entrance.

Staying behind the pillar for a second to get a good look at her surroundings, Jill was getting a little nervous since the buildings downtown were packed more tightly together than in the uptown district, meaning that there would be less room for her to run away if she met up with the main zombie horde… which was still around there somewhere. Okay, it was time to get moving, so without allowing herself any more time for doubt or fear, the young woman stepped out from behind the pillar, and kept a constant lookout for threats as she walked into the downtown district of Raccoon City.


	19. Chapter 19 Downtown

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Nineteen: Downtown**

"Keep moving, Jill." She whispered to herself, trying to catch her breath. "Just a little farther."

Now that the Pursuer had been neutralized, at least for a while, the adrenaline that the young woman had felt surging through her body during the desperate escape from the RPD was wearing off, leaving her feeling tired and sore. Aside from the nap she had taken in that uncomfortable office chair back at the uptown warehouse, she hadn't slept in what felt like forever, and her muscles ached from all the running and other strenuous things that she had to do over the past twenty four hours… not to mention the _mental_ strain.

Having to see her fellow RPD officers getting overwhelmed at the police barricade had been awful, but at least her time at the Spencer Estate back in July had prepared her for the savagery of those infected with Umbrella's T-Virus, but as bad as all that was, _nothing_ could have prepared her for that STARS hunting monster. Instinctively killing humans to spread the virus was one thing, but what the Pursuer had done to Brad went beyond instinctive, animalistic killing, almost to what could have been described as a _near human_ level of sadism.

Instead of simply killing him and being done with it, the monster had beaten and broken the pilot's body, all while keeping eye contact with Jill as if specifically trying to frighten her so that… so that what? The beast had all but told her to run away before beginning the chase, and it had come so close to getting her, too. She had to remind herself that the Pursuer was no longer chasing her, nor doing much of anything while pinned between that truck and the parking garage wall… hopefully for a long time… but that didn't mean that everything was all right.

The young woman was tired, certainly, but now her stomach was growling so loudly with hunger that it was actually painful, while her mouth was so dry from not having any water since… hell, since _yesterday_. To make matters worse, Jill was now making her way through the downtown district of Raccoon City, where the buildings were a lot closer together, the streets were a lot less accessible thanks to damage and barricades, and most of the population had lived… meaning more zombies.

Every once in a while Jill would see a flash of movement, followed by screams or gunshots as a desperate survivor was forced to run from the infected, probably while out scavenging for food or supplies. The first few times she tried to get to them, but it seemed like they were always going the opposite direction, and by the time the young woman caught up to them, it was too late. Not only had the survivors been killed after running out of bullets or being cornered, but then she also had to use more of her own precious resources in order to get away if spotted, herself.

As a former police officer, Jill's first instinct was to try to save as many civilians as possible, but that just wasn't possible on her own, even _if_ she had more ammo and felt better. So she just kept moving on, traveling down _Warren Street_ for as long as she could after leaving the RPD, but needing to stop for a lot more rest breaks after her head started to hurt from dehydration. No one knew just how the T-Virus managed to spread through the city so quickly, but she knew that it could be both airborne _and_ in the water, so using the faucets and drinking fountains was not the best idea… even though it was torture to see all of them.

Before the outbreak started there had been a lot of construction going on, especially in the older parts of the downtown district, all part of the Mayor's _Renew Raccoon_ project, so Warren Street was blocked off by construction fences and equipment long before the barricades and car accidents finished the job. From there the only way through was a back alley of to the right, but that was also the direction of the plaza that the press building was next to, and thankfully there weren't very many infected around… hold on, why were there so few of them?

There were still some zombies shambling around, but compared to how many the young woman had to deal with back uptown, there were hardly any, but… but that made no sense because this was one of the most densely populated areas of town. Not that she was complaining, since dealing with one or two straggling zombies was a hell of a lot better than getting ambushed by a whole horde like at the warehouse, but it was still unnerving, like… like they were all hiding somewhere, just waiting to jump out.

And why not? The Pursuer had waited and then jumped out at her and Brad, the memory of which suddenly making her want to be off the streets as soon as possible as she stopped and took a look around. A muffled groan reached her ears, causing the young woman to turn toward a building with her pistol aimed… but then she stopped when she saw that the zombie was trapped inside the window of a building that had bars over it. The monster snarled and reached out toward her, regardless of there being several meters between them, and Jill just shook her head while walking away.

Besides the full clip inside her weapon, there was only one extra left in her pocket, and once that was gone, what? Just use those brass knuckles she took from Marvin's office to fight off the infected? No, she needed to get to the press building and use their radio… hopefully someone would be in range who could send help, although the more she saw of the condition of Raccoon City, the less likely that it seemed for any help to be available, but what else was she supposed to do? Just give up? Sure, that was probably just what Umbrella wanted her to do, give up and just become another victim of their virus… no.

Looking up at the sky, Jill saw that there were still a few hours of daylight left, although the shadows of buildings were starting to elongate, and the wind was picking up slowly, blowing trash and other discarded items around the streets. _Whack_! Sneaking up on another zombie who was too busy eating the face of another recently killed survivor, the young woman brought the grip of her pistol down hard onto the back of its skull. It had been on its hands and knees, leaning over its victim, so it was easy to hold down after the first blow, and then just keep hitting it until there was no more movement.

This was getting harder to do the more tired and hungry she got, but it was easier than trying to escape from several of them after a gunshot drew their attention, and thankfully Jill was able to keep this up until she reached the end of the alley, where a large public transit bus was blocking the way. Well, not completely blocking it, since whatever had caused it to crash had also acted as a kind of ramp so that the front end of the bus was embedded in the wall of a building about ten feet up, giving her just enough space to get on her belly and crawl underneath it to get through.

Emerging back on the main road, the young woman pulled herself to her feet and looked around, feeling a strong sense of relief when she saw that she had reached the beginning of The Arcade Shops. Thanks to the barricades and having to go around through the alleyways, it was the _wrong side_ of The Arcade Shops, but still it meant that progress was made, and now all she had to do was skirt around the edge of the plaza to reach the press building. The plaza was a series of small buildings that sat together on their own, encircled by parking lots, meaning that there probably wouldn't be any barricades around it, so Jill started to make her way around… only to stop at what she saw around the first corner.

"Oh crap." She whispered sharply, ducking back behind the wall. "Crap, crap, crap."

To be fair, the young woman had been wondering where the majority of the downtown zombies had gone, and now she knew… they were gathered in front of the pharmacy like a _Black Friday_ crowd, groaning and bumping into each other while some crawled in through the broken windows, while others… jumped off the roof? Seriously, there were about a dozen of the infected moving around on the rooftop of the building, and now and then one of them would dive off like they were about to start _crowd-surfing_ at a _Metallica_ concert.

Instead of being carried, though, the falling zombies simply smacked their heads on the concrete, causing a brief feeding frenzy, and that was all of it that Jill wanted to see. Of course, they just _had_ to be gathered at the pharmacy, she thought, taking a minute to think of a better plan… after all, the pharmacy was in the middle of _absolutely everything_ , so there was no way to keep going around without getting spotted by fifty zombies… God damn it, what was she going to do now?

Most of the roads that she could see from there were completely blocked off, so it looked like Jill was going to have to double back and go all the way around the other side… that is, unless she somehow found a way to sneak through the plaza without being seen. Maybe through one of the stores? She thought about trying to remove a manhole cover and head through the sewer tunnels, but honestly the young woman didn't want to do that anymore than going directly through past the horde.

One of the things she had learned about the T-Virus was that it didn't just infect humans; she had seen infected birds, dogs… fucking _plants_ … there was no telling what kind of horrible things were lurking around where the zombies weren't, so it was starting to look like finding a way through one of the stores was the way to go. However, on this side most of the doors were employee access, and her hands were becoming too shaky to pick locks, but… what was that over there? The one building with an entrance that faced toward the street, with an illuminated sign above the door.

Of course, the _Grill 13_! Her head must have really bene out of it to forget about the most popular restaurant in Raccoon City, especially since she and all the members of STARS used to go there for dinner after getting off shift most days. Most of the RPD officers did, and there was even one time that Chris almost got into a fight with Tobias when STARS and _Task Force Arklay_ ended up there at the same time. The two of them were arguing about… something, she couldn't remember what, but Tobias was amazing at pushing people's buttons, and… and if Wesker hadn't stopped them, who knew what would have happened?

Regardless, the Grill 13 was probably her best bet for getting through to the other side of The Arcade Shops, so she looked around to make sure that no infected creatures had spotted her, and then started making her way toward the entrance.


	20. Chapter 20 Grill 13

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty: Grill 13**

Although it had felt like he had only closed his eyes for a moment after falling to the floor of the Grill 13 restaurant, Carlos knew that some time had passed when he opened them again because of how the sun was starting to directly come in through the top of the front windows instead of being too high up. The young man was still sore, and more dust came out of his mouth when he coughed while getting up to his hands and knees.

The Hemostatic medicine for Mikhail was still in his pouch, and nothing had attacked him… or even _entered_ the restaurant during the time that he was unconscious, so he supposed that he should count himself lucky. Reaching up to grab the top of the meal table that had broken his fall through the ceiling, Carlos groaned with effort as he pulled himself up to his feet, reaching a standing position that was actually more like just leaning on the table, when a flash of movement caught his eye.

Thanks to the sun being in his eyes, the young man was unable to see anything more than the shadow of something moving past the front of the restaurant, but it didn't really concern him until it stopped at the glass double doors and tried to look inside for a moment before pulling on the handle. It could have been another zombie, probably a female one based on its small frame, but thankfully the doors were locked, so they just rattled when she tried them. This was good, because now it would just move on without getting any attention from the main horde that was hopefully still over at the pharmacy.

"Just go away, would you?" He quietly asked, standing up straighter. " _Toma tu cerebro comiendo amigos en otro lugar_."

However, instead of just shambling off, the figure looked like it was crouching down in front of the doors, and after about a minute of soft rattling, he was forced to get down himself, crawling underneath the metal table into the kitchen in order to stay out of sight when the locked doors opened with a hard _click_. Okay, maybe it wasn't a zombie that was quietly opening the door and then walking into the restaurant… in fact, as the figure moved out of the direct sunlight and started to search around the dining area, he saw that it was a _girl_.

From where he was hiding underneath the preparation tables and counters in the kitchen, Carlos watched as she looked underneath the tables and inside all of the red colored booth, before checking out the payphone booth that had been installed near the door, the young man found himself staring intently at how her tight jeans hugged against her rear, and how pretty her face was, even though she was tired looking and dirty as if she had been on the streets for a while.

Thanks to Hollywood Movies, the young man had thought that all American women had long blonde hair and huge boobs, so one would think that he would have been disappointed with this girl's brown hair that only came down to her shoulders and boobs that he could see were… not so big through her heavy leather jacket… but he felt like quite the opposite… like Mikhail had been right, and Raccoon City had given him the opportunity to rescue the woman of his dreams… but then he saw that she was _armed_ , and realized that he would have to be careful in case she was jumpy.

Once his dream girl finished searching around the dining area, he had to crouch down in a different place so that she wouldn't see him as she entered the kitchen, herself. But instead of being as thorough in searching around this part as she had done out there, she only did a quick look around, before going right to the nearest refrigerator and pulling open the shiny metal doors. Every few seconds she would look to make sure that nothing was sneaking up on her, but most of the girl's attention was now focused on the bottle of water that she was chugging down after nearly ripping off the cap.

Poor thing was probably starving, Carlos thought as she dropped the empty water bottle and began tearing into the apple slices that were set on small individual places like they had been meant as an appetizer, ignoring the obvious brown spots, and then letting out a powerful _belch_ that would have put even the _biggest_ drinking man to shame. Okay, well it was time for _Carlos el heroe_ to swoop in and sweep her off her feet… yeah, he would act like he was just coming into the building and declare that he was there to rescue her, and this _hermosa morena_ would run into his arms, probably crying with joy after finally finding a man who could keep her safe.

 _Clang_! A metal spatula was knocked to the floor when he grabbed the top of the counter to silently pull himself up to a standing position, and as soon as she heard it, the girl spun around, dropping into a kneeling position with her pistol aimed right at his face like she were an expert marksman or something. She got even more tense looking after seeing his rifle, and it probably didn't help that he was still covered with drywall dust, looking like some kind of albino with really ashy skin… yeah, so much for _Carlos el heroe_.

"Don't move!" She ordered with a sternness only ever heard from his mother. "I don't want any trouble, so just… just keep your hands where I can see them, okay?"

"Relax, _novia_ , I'm not here to hurt you." The young man quickly replied, keeping his hands up. " _Eres tan hermosa con una pistola_ , uh, I mean… you don't have to be scared, so let's just… put the gun down before someone gets hurt, okay?"

For a while they just stood there, with Carlos genuinely afraid that she might shoot him, since there was nothing more dangerous in a warzone than a frightened civilian with a firearm, except a frightened civilian with a firearm who was _female_. Keeping his hands up, and speaking to her in a calming voice to show her that he wasn't a threat, while also wanting to do nothing more than take the pistol away from her and hold this girl in his arms. He told her in English that he was there to rescue her, but since Americans didn't speak any other languages than their own, he also told her in Spanish that _ella ersa su novia y que deberian estar besa'ndose en su lugar._

" _Primero no soy tu amorcita_." She answered, startling him and definitely _not_ lowering her weapon. " _Mi nombre es Jill Valentine de la Policia de Raccoon City y hablo espanol muy bien_."

Oh great, the young man thought after hearing this, not only was the girl of his dreams the only Spanish speaking _blanquita_ in America, but she was _also_ a cop, which made her far less likely to simply fall into his arms when all was said and done. Looks like he was going to have to play nice and follow her lead, at least until she wasn't pointing a pistol at him. This belief was further reinforced when she demanded that he identify himself, since she had never seen him before, and this city was small enough for most people to all know each other.

"Like I said, I'm not here to hurt you." He answered, his arms starting to lower from keeping them up for so long. "My name is Corporal Carlos Olivera, of Umbrella's Biohazard Countermeasure Force; we were sent in to rescue civilians, but shit went all _loco_ from the start, and now I gotta get this medicine back to my Captain before he bleeds out."

Her gaze shifted down when he opened the pouch to show her the large bottle of Hemostatic medicine, and then Jill's eyes moved up to the large hole in the ceiling, chuckling a little after looking back down at him, probably from having figured out how he got into the locked restaurant. The good news was that she was finally starting to lower the pistol, from starting to see that he wasn't a threat, or maybe just because her arms were getting as tired as his were.

"If you came to rescue civilians, I don't think there's many left." She continued, allowing him to sigh with relief when she finally lowered her weapon. "Wait a second, did you say you're part of _Umbrella's_ Army, or…

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

The girl… the beautiful _Jill Valentine de la Policia_ stopped mid-sentence, and now Carlos was starting to become concerned when all of the bravery and sternness faded from her face… replaced with fear as a strange thumping sound started to be heard, coming from outside. The young man asked her what was wrong, but she seemed to be unable to speak, instead just looking up over the counter toward the front doors as the thumping sound got closer.

"You said there are more of you somewhere?" She asked with a shaky voice, suddenly seeming a lot more cooperative. "Are you armed, and do you have a way out of the city? Please take me with you, _please_."

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

"Jill, what's the matter?" The young man asked, picking up his rifle and moving over to her. " _Novia_ , you're shaking, what… you don't have to be scared of anything; I'll protect you."

"You… you don't understand." She replied, a tear running down her cheek. "He's coming for me… he's coming, and… if we don't get out of here _right now_ we are _both_ going to die."

Unfortunately, they couldn't just run out the back door, since all of those zombies were still probably near the pharmacy and were sure to see them, but maybe the young man was going to get the chance to be her hero after all. Maybe she had seen one of those large insect things from the sewers, but what she didn't know was that they were really easy to kill as long as they didn't sneak up on you. Again reassuring her that he was going to keep her safe, Carlos put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner before looking up over the counter again just as something _big_ moved in front of the windows.

Thud… thud… thud, its footsteps were heavy enough to shake the now unlocked front doors of the Grill 13, with the top of its figure reaching the very top of them in the sunlight… and then it slowly opened the door, stepping inside and allowing the young man to get a clear glimpse of its truly terrifying features as it moved into the dining area, following almost the exact search pattern that Jill had done when she first arrived as if… as if it was somehow _following_ her.

" _Dios en el cielo_." He whispered as the Pursuer started to growl.


	21. Chapter 21 Desperate Escape

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty One: Desperate Escape**

For a moment after entering the Grill 13 restaurant, and finally getting some food and water, Jill was starting to relax after meeting the young man who introduced himself as Carlos Olivera. Apparently he had gotten into the locked building by falling through the roof somehow, leaving him looking like an albino with ashy skin because of the drywall dust that covered most of his body. Like a lot of men, he tried to be smooth with the way he talked to her, while a _Don Juan_ he was not… he was armed, though, and even though it was kind of off-putting to hear he worked for Umbrella, the young woman would have signed on with the Devil himself to get out of there once those heavy footsteps were heard.

Carlos didn't understand why she was so afraid when the Pursuer opened the front door and walked in, but then again, Jill hadn't understood Brad's fear, either. Of course, once the young man got a good look at the thing, he seemed to understand that escape was the best option… it was just too bad that there wasn't a convenient truck around to ram the thing with. There was a clear path to the back door from where they were hidden, and the dining area was big, so it would take the monster some time to check around everywhere before getting to the kitchen… oh, good, it was starting with the bathrooms.

She couldn't help but wonder how it was tracking her, not that it really mattered, but if the Pursuer really was capable of following her no matter where she went in the city, then simply running away would be about as productive for her as it had been for Brad. No, something had to be done to stop this thing once and for all… heh, it was too bad there wasn't a roof that she could push it through like what had happened to Carlos… or maybe… or maybe she could bring the roof down to _it_.

Staying crouched down behind the counters so that the monster didn't spot her as it growled while moving into the next bathroom, the young woman crawled over into the kitchen, and began to turn on all of the gas burners on all four of the restaurant's stoves _without_ lighting them, making Carlos's eyes widen when he figured out what she was trying to do. Because there were so many ovens, the kitchen area quickly filled with visible gas fumes, with the two of them having to stay low on the ground so it wouldn't choke them.

"Head for the back door and make sure it's open." She whispered as the monster came out of the other bathroom, growling as if it were irritated that she wasn't in there. "We need to get it closer, though."

"Are you fucking _loco_?!" He whispered back urgently. "If you set that off, you're gonna bring the whole ceiling down on top of us?!"

Not us, the young woman thought, just _him_ … and the anger she felt while putting this plan into action actually made her stop shaking… in order to stand up and whistle in order to get the Pursuer's attention. She immediately regretted this decision when the monster turned and made eye contact with her, seeming to smile a little while her knees began shaking… and now it was turning toward the kitchen.

" _Sstarss_." It said as it started walking toward her.

Okay, now all she had to do was run for the door, turn around, and shoot the ovens so that they would spark and blow the place up… yep, all she had to do was run… but something was wrong… Jill knew what she had to do, but for some reason she found herself unable to move as the thing got closer… and closer. She was still standing there, unable to move when it reached the entrance to the kitchen, but suddenly her paralysis was broken when Carlos grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the exit.

Following his part of the plan, the young man had made sure that the back door was propped open for their escape, and it was a good thing too, because when he turned around and started spraying bullets toward the ovens with his rifle just as the monster was roaring to begin the chase… the gas exploded. _BOOM_! In an incredibly powerful flash of light and noise, Jill and Carlos were lifted off their feet, throwing them right out the door while the monster was engulfed in flames.

She couldn't hear whether or not the Pursuer was still roaring or moving, mostly because of how badly her ears were ringing, but a moment later the entire roof of the Grill 13 collapsed down into the restaurant, kicking up so much smoke and debris that the fire was put out by the time it cleared. The young woman was glad to have been wearing that leather jacket, since the fall onto the pavement outside probably would have hurt a lot worse without it, but she couldn't help smiling while catching her breath since there was no sign of the monster.

"Jill, come on!" She partially heard through her ringing ears. "Jill, come on, we gotta go! Come on, they're coming!"

She was still a little dazed because of the explosion, but after turning around to look away from the Grill 13 wreckage, she discovered why the young man was pulling on her arm again. It was because even though the Pursuer was buried alive, the explosion had drawn the attention of the zombies who had been gathered around the pharmacy. Some of them were on fire, and the ones closest to the blast must have been knocked down, since they were just now getting to their feet, but Carlos was right, they had to get out of there.

Jill was dizzy from the explosion, but Carlos helped her to her feet, and was even nice enough to let her lean on him as they moved away from the shopping plaza. There were so many infected people around, but they were slow, and soon the two of them had crossed the street and entered a narrow alleyway. There didn't seem to be any zombies along this path that ran behind more buildings, but that made sense when the young man assured her that he had already cleared this area before.

"The others are held up at Central Station." He explained while helping her along. "But we gotta make a stop first; it won't take long, I promise."

"Yeah… okay." Jill replied, shaking her head to cry and clear the dizziness. "Sounds good."

Sure, there was _nothing_ wrong with allowing herself to be led around by a total stranger, especially when he already said that he worked for Umbrella. It was better than being alone, though, since if she had to set off the explosion in the restaurant by herself, the young woman didn't know if she would have been able to get up before the zombies from the pharmacy got to her. Carlos didn't seem like your typical Umbrella goon, though, assuming that the bad ones were more like Wesker had been.

Suddenly the ground underneath Jill's feet was soft, interrupting her thoughts when she realized that the young man was leading her across the courtyard behind City Hall. Walking was getting a little bit easier by the time they passed by the oversized statue of the Mayor, and the ringing in her ears was almost gone as they crossed another street, allowing her to see that the young man was bringing her toward… the Stagla station?

"Why are we going to the gas station?" She asked as they passed the pumps. "Don't tell me you have a _car_ waiting to drive us out of here."

"Yeah, not exactly." Carlos answered. "In addition to the medicine for my Captain, I'm supposed to get gear oil so we can get the cable car going again."

Oh, so _that_ was why the rest of his people were hold up at Central Station, the young woman realized as he helped her through the door, and then to sit down in one of the chairs while he ran over into the garage. They were trying to get one of the cable cars up and running, but oil wasn't going to be enough, but… maybe they already had someone else turn the power back on to the system while the young man was retrieving _these_ items.

He was back there for a while, so long that Jill was starting to get worried, until he came out with a bucket of an odd type of gear oil that she had never heard of before. However, instead of wanting to take off again right away, the young man went over to the refrigerators and got her another bottle of water, as well as a bottle of aspirin from up near the cash register. She thanked him and took a couple pills, since her head was still pounding, and Carlos sat down in another chair right in front of her while she chugged down the whole bottle.

"You must have been starving for a _while_ , huh?" He asked, taking the empty bottle when she was done and tossing it into the nearby waste basket. "Well, don't worry, those pills will make you feel better, and then when we get out of this _ciudad de pasadilla_ , I'll take you out for a real nice dinner somewhere."

"Carlos, you don't have to coddle me like I'm some scared little girl." The young woman replied. "But I'll tell you what… you get me out of the city, and I just might take you up on that offer."

The young man smiled when she said this, and Jill couldn't help smiling a little as well… and why not, Carlos was cute, like… _real_ cute… but then he had to ruin it by saying that _he bet she was glad that the company sent in its soldiers when it did_. Now the smile faded, since she knew that this was all Umbrella's fault to begin with, but he didn't seem to know that… nor had he or his comrades even been aware, based on what he told her, of the existence of these flesh eating monsters in the first place.

"So, what happened?" The young woman asked, starting to feel better from the pills. "Umbrella just picked you guys up one day and sent you here without telling you anything at all?"

"Actually, that's almost _exactly_ what happened." Carlos answered, surprising _her_ this time. "All we were told was that something bad was going down in Raccoon City, and that we were going in to rescue the civilians. We're just mercenaries, Jill, hired hands… we're not really part of the company, so I guess we're lucky if they tell us anything at all… you feeling better, _novia_?"

Again, she reminded him that she was _not_ his _sweetheart_ , but the answer was yes, she was feeling a lot better. So now that they had everything they needed, it was time to head over to Central Station, and if luck was with her, then they had a radio, and she wouldn't end up having to go to the press building to signal for help after all.


	22. Chapter 22 Another Problem

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Two: Another Problem**

Jill kept insisting that she was fine, but Carlos still insisted on waiting until she was no longer feeling dizzy before they headed out again. She was tough, tougher than most women he had met before, to have been able to survive in the city all alone, especially with that _thing_ following her around like the most _psychotic ex-boyfriend_ ever. Well, no matter how big and really, _really_ scary that monster was, its days of stalking the young woman were over, and hopefully the young man had scored some points with her for saving her life when she froze up like that.

Not that he blamed her for not being able to move after coming face to face with that thing, since it was quite possibly the most frightening thing to ever exist… either way, it could keep all of its scary, stalker bullshit buried underneath the ruins of the Grill 13 restaurant, while Carlos ran off with Jill. Before that could happen, though, he needed to make sure she got back to the cable car safely, so after taking a look to make sure that the way was still clear, the two of them headed out of the gas station.

"Central Station is just past that courtyard with the statue." He explained as they carefully crossed the street toward City Hall. "It isn't far, so just stay behind me, and I'll make sure nothing hurts you."

"I know where Central Station is, Carlos, I've lived here for years." The young woman replied, ducking down with him when they reached the first hedge. "And shooting that rifle of yours all the time is just gonna draw more attention to us; you're better off saving it for the _bigger things_ instead of zombies."

It must have been those giant insects down in the sewers that she was referring to, meaning that she must have faced them at some point, and furthermore, now that her _ex-boyfriend_ was out of the picture, just about all of the fear that she had shown while inside the restaurant was gone. Jill was now confident and focused, as if with the exception of that monster, this whole situation was just another normal day for the _Policia de Raccoon City_. It was also kind of hard to remember that she was a cop in the first place, maybe because she was the cutest one he'd ever seen, but that was okay… a lady cop was still a lady, right?

"Keep your _God damn_ head down!" She whispered in a scolding manner. "If there are any of those creatures crawling around, you don't want them to have a chance to see _you_ when you look for them."

Hmm, maybe a lady, maybe not, Carlos thought as they continued on their way across the courtyard. The best part about rescuing a woman like her was that she already seemed to have plenty of experience dealing with the zombies and other monsters that were _crawling around_ as she put it, and that was a hell of a lot better than having to babysit some damsel in distress… it just meant that he was going to have to work a little harder to impress her.

"Friendlies coming in!" The young man called out, not screaming, but just loud enough for his comrades to hear him as they approached. "So, don't shoot us!"

Crossing one last street, and racing up to the rear car of the transit, Carlos pulled open the door, and kept watch as Jill climbed inside, before shutting and locking the door after getting in, himself. He felt a little bit more relaxed now that they were back with the others, but the young woman with him seemed surprised, and not in a good way as she looked at Nikolai, who was checking the wounded Mikhail's bandages.

"Where is everyone?" She asked. "Are the rest of your men out doing recon, or something?"

" _Rest of men_ are right here." The Lieutenant replied, standing up and looking her over as he approached. "Well, Olivera, you sure took sweet time getting back from pharmacy… I was able to stop Mikhail's bleeding, but… but at least now we know what kept you."

"Relax, Nikolai, you forget the days of youth." The wounded Captain groaned, smirking a little while sitting up enough to see them. "If I were Olivera's age, and met woman like _that_ in place like _this_ … I might _still_ be gone."

"It wasn't like that, Captain." Carlos explained as he handed the Hemostatic medicine over to Nikolai. "I fell through the roof of this restaurant, and then we had to blow up the whole place to stop this _monstruo enorme_ that was following her."

There was a sudden break in the conversation as Nikolai handed two of the large pills from the medicine bottle to Mikhail, and the Captain coughed a little while trying to wash them down with his canteen. The instructions on them said to only take two every eight hours to avoid a deadly blood clot _among other things_ , but Mikhail was in a hurry to get back into fighting shape, so he took, well… a few extra. Now as long as he didn't move around for the next few hours, the medicine would stop the internal bleeding, and he would be fine… so long as he didn't strain himself for a while.

Meanwhile, Carlos decided to introduce Jill to the others, making sure to tell them that she was a police officer, too, since the young woman looked a little uncomfortable with the way that Nikolai and Mikhail had been talking about her up to this point. If there was anything that might have ruined the young man's chances with her, it was if she thought he was some kind of _pig_ , and there was already a strike against him in that area from before he knew just how well she spoke Spanish.

"RPD or no, situation is extreme in Raccoon City." The Lieutenant replied, looking her over again. "How did little girl like you survive for so long."

"Hey, I'm not just some beat-cop, you know." The young woman finally spoke up, hands on her hips as if offended. "I'm a member of _STARS_."

"Member of _what_?" Carlos and Mikhail asked at the same time.

From the confused expressions that he and his Captain exchanged upon hearing this, it appeared that Mikhail didn't know what this STARS thing was any more than he did, and it was actually Nikolai who commented that it was some kind of police special forces unit. That certainly explained all of the training and experience that Jill had, and… hey, wasn't STARS that word that her ex-boyfriend said when it came into the restaurant? No, that had to be some kind of coincidence.

"Great, now we all know each other." Mikhail said, now looking at how low the sun was getting on the horizon. "Olivera, put oil in motor so we can head out… want to be at clock tower with others before sun goes down."

"Right." The young man said, setting the large can down on the bench so that he could remove the lid. "I'll just _fill'er-up_ , and we can get out of here."

Of all the things that Carlos had been supposed to get, he honestly hadn't even _thought_ about getting a funnel while they were at the gas station, so he ended up having to just cup his hands around the lip of the can while Nikolai poured, so that at least a good portion of the gear oil would go where it was supposed to be. It took a while, and even longer for the oil to settle to make sure there wasn't too much or too little within the system, and then the Lieutenant pressed the starter switch… so that absolutely nothing could happen.

"You have got to be joking me." The Lieutenant said, pressing the switch several times. "There is only few hours of daylight left, and if cable car is broken… not enough time to reach clock tower on foot before those _monsters_ come out of sewers."

"Did you switch the circuit back on at the substation?" Jill asked, causing all three of them to look at her. "Right before the barricades were put up around the city, Mayor Warren ordered the power company to cut off all public transit… it was on the news… right before that stopped, too."

Carlos looked out through the cable car's windows, watching the sky slowly turning orange as if the sun was purposely trying to set just so that they wouldn't make it, and unfortunately one of the casualties of the Grill 13 disaster was the city map that the young man had been relying on to find, well… _everything_. He figured that it had become lost at some point between the pharmacy and his swan dive through that rooftop, but it was gone either way, so that didn't matter much.

"Then we must turn power back on." Mikhail said after the moments of silence that followed. "Jill, you know city, guide Olivera there, and…

"Wait, Mikhail, wait, the boy needs break." Nikolai spoke up. "Let Olivera rest from… blowing up restaurants and chasing girls… I will go with Jill and get power running."

The young man wanted to protest, but the Captain nodded in agreement before he could say anything, so now it was out of his hands. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Lieutenant, but… man, something about that guy just rubbed him the wrong way. There was no reason to feel that way about him, since Nikolai had been there, fighting alongside them since the beginning, and he _did_ make it possible for them to escape from the sewers… it was probably just because he wanted the young woman all to himself… which was stupid since they were kind of in the middle of a life or death struggle.

"Night is fast approaching." Mikhail said as the two of them prepared to leave. "Keep girl safe, Nikolai, and return quickly. Oh… and try not to blow up any more buildings, da?"

"Da, comrade." Nikolai replied, laughing a little and shaking his head while unlocking the exit. "Do not worry, Olivera, will return _girlfriend_ to you soon."

Carlos watched out the side window as Jill and the Lieutenant went out the door and headed back across the street toward City Hall… only to smirk when he saw the young woman grab him by the arm and point in the other direction. Soon they had vanished from sight, and now all the young man could do was watch for their return… as well as the sun as it seemed to be moving faster and faster toward the horizon, bringing with it the black of night and the dangers of those _things_ hiding in the sewers.


	23. Chapter 23 Power Distribution

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Three: Power Distribution**

Unlike the pharmacy and Stagla station, which were relatively close to Central Station, and easy to get to regardless of the zombie presence, the nearest power substation was back the way Jill had come from uptown, near where all that construction work had been taking place. Well, it _might_ have been easier to get to if it weren't for all the police barricades and collapsing buildings blocking the roads, so after passing back around The Arcade Shops plaza, thankfully without drawing the attention of the infected horde, it seemed that the only way to get through was to go right into the construction site.

Unlike Carlos, Nikolai was like a machine, keeping up a constant pace of stopping just long enough to take a look at his surroundings, and then rushing forward to another place of cover, and then doing it again. He was cold, though, acting as if the situation in Raccoon City was just another battlefield, and sometimes not even waiting for the young woman to catch up before moving again… at least until he needed more directions.

Before the T-Virus outbreak had started, this whole corner of the city block had been under construction, with a bunch of old buildings having been knocked down and cleared out of the way in order to build a much larger one. When worked stopped because of the sudden cannibal attacks, the foundation of the building, as well as most of the metal frame had been completed, but only a few walls and other features on the ground floor had even been started, making the place look more like an abandoned ruin than a construction site.

All the equipment was still there, too; tools, tripod-mounted work-lights that were still on, vehicles that had run out of gas from being left on when the workers ran for their lives, everything that suggested that this place was still in operation, just without any people. Well, there were _some_ people around, but the young woman doubted that a bunch of zombies stumbling around the partially completed rooms in hardhats counted as such.

"We must be quiet going through, but cannot avoid all of them." The Lieutenant said quietly, picking up a pick-axe from the fallen tools. "Grab something sharp, and do as I do, girl… hope _STARS_ train arms to be strong enough for task."

Wait… was that a challenge? Nikolai scoffed at her and shook his head when she picked up another one, and then the Lieutenant crept up on the nearest infected person. _Crack_! Hiding around the corner of a finished wall and then swinging the pick-axe, the sharpened end went right through the hard hat it was wearing, with Nikolai pulling the tool back out and getting back around the corner before his target had even collapsed to the ground. The other zombies in the room looked toward the sound for a second, but didn't appear to seen anything wrong with their fellow infected just falling down, because they immediately went back to just standing around.

The Lieutenant looked back at her, gesturing toward the zombies as if he expected her to top his performance, and although the young woman had never killed a zombie, or _anything_ with a tool such as this for that matter, but he made it look so easy… and Jill was _not_ about to turn down a challenge from him after all of the _little girl_ comments he had made about her back on the cable car. So she moved up toward the wall on the opposite corner from where he was standing, looking around just enough to pick a target, and then waiting for the opportunity.

Normally she wouldn't have wasted their valuable time like this, since the sun was getting lower with every passing second, but out of the whole labyrinth of a construction site, this was both the shortest and least populated route to the substation on the other side. Gunfire would have been quicker, but she didn't want to end up running from another horde like after the Grill 13, so as soon as the target was in range, she stepped out and swung the pick-axe right toward its head.

Maybe it was because she was nervous, or maybe she just wasn't used to the odd shape and weight of the weapon, but for whatever reason it was, the sharp end of the tool flew right past the end of the zombie's nose, hitting nothing but air… until it embedded itself deeply into the wall. _Oh, crap_ , Jill thought as she tried to pull it back out before the infected man could react, but the pick-axe was buried so far that this was impossible, and then there was a rasping sound as a pair of infected hands reached out for her.

Upon noticing this, the other remaining zombie in the partially finished room started to groan loudly, which would have possibly alerted the other infected people nearby if Nikolai hadn't cut off the sound by burying his pick-axe into its forehead. However, it didn't help the young woman much when her own target grabbed her by the shoulders, and she had to grab it by the neck in order to keep the monster from biting her. Not about to let this thing simply overpower her like what had happened back inside Bar Jack, the young woman pulled back, and then rushed forward while slamming her knee into its stomach, getting it to let go of her just long enough for her to move around behind it and leap onto the zombie's back.

Putting it into a sleeper-hold as they both tumbled to the ground, Jill used her legs to keep the infected man's pinned while she forced its head to turn as far to the left as possible… farther… farther… farther until it couldn't go any more… and then wrenching it back all the way to the right as far and hard as she could. _Snap_! There was a wet sound as the zombie's neck was broken, and now the infected man was still while the young woman rolled away to catch her breath.

"Not bad, for little girl." The Lieutenant said quietly, trying not to draw any more attention. "Not exactly as I would do, but… turning failure into victory is always good. Come, there is no more time for playing."

Playing, Jill thought? This was _playing_ to him? Every time that she had ever been forced to face off with a zombie in close quarters… which happened more than she cared to think about, the young woman had always been terrified, since all it took was a single bite for someone to become one of them. Carlos might have been less experienced or professional in general than Nikolai, but at least the younger man gave a shit about what was happening… and he probably would have helped her out, too.

Oh well, she was alive and now there was a clear path for them through the rest of the construction site, which they took advantage of as soon as she was on her feet. It was only a short distance more to the other side, since the building was only taking up a quarter of the block, and once through the partially standing construction fence around the property, the power substation was right there across the street.

Protected by a large chain-link fence with three rows of barbed wire at the top to keep out vandals, the small facility consisted of a tiny building off to the far side, while the rest of the gravel-covered yard was filled with distribution pylons that received from the main power plant, and sent it out all over the downtown district, including to the cable cars. It was all lit up by a series of bright, orange lights that were mounted on top of the fence, allowing the two of them to see a large gate that had an equally large padlock securing its chain.

"Hmm, this could cause problem." The Lieutenant said, looking around. "If we can cut barbed wire, then maybe we can climb over, or…

"Or we can just do this the _easy_ way for once." Jill interrupted, taking out her lock-picking tool while moving up to the lock. "This will only take a second."

It was a simple lock, but also a rusty one, so she had to be very careful not to damage either her tool or the tumblers inside while working them loose, but eventually the lock popped open, allowing them to push open the gate with a rusty _screech_. Okay, now that the hard part of getting there was over, this was where Jill's expertise came to an end, since although she knew Raccoon City like the back of her hand… she didn't have even the slightest idea how to turn the public transit systems back on.

"Okay, process is simple, but is two person job." Nikolai explained after pushing the shed door open and looking inside for threats. "Go over to far panel, and do exactly as told."

Well, at least _one_ of them knew what they were doing, the young woman thought as she went over to the panel, looking at all of the switches and buttons as if it were a test that she hadn't studied for back in high school. Thankfully, though, the Lieutenant walked her through one step at a time, and soon the process was completed without a single explosion going off. Now that the power was back on, all they had to do was head back the way they came, and… and the young woman kept waiting for something to explode because of how everything else had happened, but for once everything was running smoothly.

"All right, cable car should have power now." Nikolai said after taking one more look at the meters and gauges. "Come, we have one last stop to make before leaving."

"One last stop?" Jill asked, following him out of the control shed and back toward the gate. "Is there enough daylight left for that?"

He assured her that there was plenty of time, and that their destination was just down the road, so she followed him down what was left of Flower Street, which from where they were bypassed The Arcade Shops completely. The road was mostly cleared, at least along the route that the Lieutenant was taking, but as they went a little further down, she started to get confused. Maybe Jill could have understood if he was trying to get to _Kendo's Gun Shop_ , but that was all the way on the other side of town, and the only thing down this way was…

"Here we are." Nikolai announced, pointing toward the two-story building in front of them. " _The Raccoon City Press_."

This had been the young woman's original destination after being unable to reach anyone on the radio at the police station, but aside from the radio set that probably wasn't going to work any better than the last one, there was absolutely nothing inside of military value. Anything the reporters knew had already been published in the newspapers and on TV, and besides, the building next to it was on fire, with the flames beginning to burn up the far side of _this_ building as well… so what in the hell were they doing there?


	24. Chapter 24 True Colors

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Four: True Colors**

The front entrance of the press building was unlocked… well, it actually looked more like it had been forced open at some point, since there was plenty of damage to the lock itself that could be seen when one of the double doors were pushed open. The lobby looked to be almost untouched by the T-Virus outbreak, though, with no infected shambling around, nor were there any bodies or even blood on the brown tile floor. A couple of flickering vending machines illuminated the corner in brilliant blue and red light next to a useless wall-mounted payphone, and the large reception desk was untouched as well… but then, why was the door forced?

All of the offices were on the second floor, while the radio set the reporters used to interfere with police business was all the way at the top on the third, and since the elevator was not working, the only way to get there was by using the stairs. This was where the building's untouched status came to an end, however, since when Nikolai opened the stairwell door Jill could immediately smell smoke. Turns out that the fire from the next building wasn't just spreading across the far side of the building… it was spreading _throughout_ as well.

"Nikolai, this isn't a good idea." The young woman warned, ducking down a little to be below the smoke that was pouring out. "The sun's going to be down in less than an hour, we should just get back to the cable car."

"No, is very important, will only take a minute." The Lieutenant replied, ducking down himself a little as he started up the wooden stairs. "Come, there is no fire, just smoke."

She didn't want him to go upstairs by himself, since she didn't like the idea of having to get all the way back to the cable car by herself to get help if something happened, so Jill followed, realizing that he was right about the fire part. There was plenty of smoke inside the stairwell, and the young woman could see the flickering of distant orange light underneath the door on the second floor landing when the stairs looped around to continue upward, but the smoke was coming through the ventilation outtake, which was how it was getting into the stairs.

Again the young woman tried to convince him that they should just leave, since there was nothing in this place but the radio, but… but maybe that was what Nikolai was after. She already knew that they had lost their radioman in the minutes after getting dropped into the city, so it made sense that they would need to contact the others before heading over to the clock tower, because… well, military units just _did_ things like that.

There was no smoke or flickering light coming from underneath the door to the third floor, so the Lieutenant pushed it open, and Jill felt even worse about being inside this place when she saw that the smoke simply hadn't reached the stairs yet. Starting with a short hallway that ended at an open window, and then branching off in two directions, the closed door to the right was smoldering pretty badly from the obvious fire in the room behind it, but all of the smoke was going out the window, so at least they could breathe.

"This way, over in here." Nikolai continued, leading the way through the remaining door. "Is radio room, I'll keep watch, you try to get response."

Well, since they were there, it would have been a wasted opportunity for her to refuse, since it looked like there was some time left before the fire reached this part of the building. This area was a single open room with a row of large windows facing the back of the building, with the only significant features being a long meeting table where countless papers and documents were scattered about as if someone had ransacked the place recently… and the large radio communications set against the far wall, where the press building's first dead body was discovered.

"Looks like one of your men made it here before…" She said, trailing off. "I'm sorry, Nikolai."

The Lieutenant grunted while looking down at the body that was slumped on the floor, partially propped up against the corner. It must have been this man who had forced the door open downstairs, but… but it looked like he had been shot several times… possibly in the middle of becoming a zombie? If so, then he couldn't have shot _himself_ like that, so… was there another survivor from their unit out there?

First thing's first, Jill thought as she sat down in the office chair and hit the power switch for the radio after setting her pistol down on the desk. If there was another of Mikhail's men out there, he obviously wasn't inside this building, so they couldn't help him until they were done there. As she had done inside the police station, the young woman immediately started trying to tune into an active signal, but then she saw all of the bullet holes in the communications equipment, which explained why she hadn't heard any static… but not why she suddenly felt the barrel of a gun pressing into the back of her neck.

"Nikolai?" She asked, in complete shock as he picked up her weapon with his free hand, and tossed it across the room. "What's going on? What are you doing?"

"Don't move, little girl, and put hands on desk, spread out as wide as they go." The Lieutenant ordered. "Now, are you _really_ Jill Valentine of RPD STARS? Answer me, girl, your life depends on it."

She was confused, not understanding why someone in this situation would suddenly be threatening her with a rifle, and also not knowing which answer to his question would get her killed, if that was really his intention. Did he somehow not believe that the young woman was who she claimed, or was he looking for her for some reason? Without knowing the reason for his sudden change of character, Jill didn't know if it was better to lie or tell the truth… so she took a chance on telling the truth.

"Good, I would hate to waste bullet for no reason." Nikolai explained. "Sorry to make you walk all the way here to do this, but press building was only place in city I knew that Olivera did not… so he would not know where to find you when I tell him monsters attacked us on way back to cable car."

"Nikolai, what… what you're saying doesn't make sense." Jill replied, realizing that the Lieutenant had been there before, and had probably shot the other man and radio himself. "I'm not a threat to you, and we stand a better chance at getting out of the city if there's four of us, so… so why are you doing this? I don't understand."

It started to make sense, though, after the Lieutenant explained that he was a little more _in the loop_ when it came to company business than Carlos and Mikhail were, and then the young woman's mouth ran dry after he told her that Umbrella had put a quarter of a million dollar price on her head because of her role in the destruction of the facility in the Arklay Mountains last summer… on her and all the other members of STARS who were still alive.

"Is a shame… you are beautiful girl." He continued, moving his finger onto the rifle's trigger. "Would prefer making love to you first, but as you said… sun will be down soon, and I must be at cable car before nightfall… goodbye, sweetheart."

 _Click_ … Jill's whole body tensed up when she felt the whole rifle move from him pulling the trigger, but instead of feeling a bullet pass through her neck, the young woman felt nothing at all while the weapon made a clicking sound. It wasn't the same sound as if it were empty, but sounding more like a jam, and… and _holy shit, his weapon jammed_! Leaning forward, and kicking the office chair back toward him as hard as she could, nearly making him lose balance when it hit him in the legs, Jill grabbed his rifle and tried to wrestle it from his grip.

Nikolai was still off balance, and she actually succeeded in twisting the jammed weapon around in his hands until it fell to the floor. Now that there was no danger of getting shot, the young woman grabbed him by the shirt collar and head-butted him in the nose as hard as she could, making the Lieutenant groan in pain as she forced him to lean backwards against the long table. Twisting the front of his shirt and pulling so that it started to choke him, she still couldn't believe that her life would have ended right there if his rifle hadn't jammed… making her not feel bad about choking him to death, or…

 _Crash_! Jill had been so intent on cutting off Nikolai's air supply, that she hadn't noticed him grabbing onto an empty beer bottle that was on the table, at least not until there was a blinding pain as the thick glass shattered across the top of her head. She lost her grip on him, and the whole room seemed to tilt sideways while her head throbbed, only to feel more pain when the Lieutenant grabbed her arm and twisted it so hard behind her back that Jill's head was bashed down onto the table.

"You… little… _brat_!" Nikolai spat, twisting her arm upward until she screamed. "Maybe you behave _better_ when I break arms and legs, da?"

Jill screamed again as he wrenched on her arm, clearly serious about wanting to break it, but just as she had failed to watch every part of him, the Lieutenant was making the same mistake as the young woman took the brass knuckles out of her pocket and slipped them onto her other hand. _Whack_! Maybe it wasn't as dramatic as a shattering beer bottle, but it certainly made her feel better when she was able to twist herself out of his arm-hold at the right moment and bring the weapon she had taken from Marvin's office right across his face.

This time the Lieutenant stumbled away, crying out loudly in pain as he fell over another desk that was against the wall, and giving Jill the moment that she needed to catch her breath while spitting out some blood. She couldn't believe how selfish and cruel this… this _asshole_ was, putting _money_ ahead of survival of the group… just like _Wesker_ had done to STARS back at the Spencer Estate. My God, the Lieutenant was just like him… and she knew that if she let him live, he would just come after her again.

So it was decided; balling up her fist and preparing to hit him one more time with all her strength, Jill moved over behind him and swung just as Nikolai was starting to get up… only to miss completely when he ducked out of the way… only to pick up an old rotary telephone that was sitting on the desk, and slam it into the back of her head. _Ding_! The bell inside the old phone sounded as the young woman fell face-first onto the floor, dazed and seeing everything in double, but still able to feel when Nikolai started wrapping the phone cord around her neck.

"Get up, you _bitch_!" He yelled, choking her while using the cord to pull her to her feet. "You like brass knuckles, da? I give you brass knuckles."

He had taken them from her hand and put them on his own, using them to strike Jill in the stomach before dropping them and forcing her down onto the desk on her back. She tried to fight him off, but this was hard to do without being able to breathe, and now he was pulling the cord tight with one hand while unzipping her leather jacket with the other. She realized what he was trying to do to her now when he started groping her and reaching for her other clothes, but then the young woman heard something… something that was even _worse_ than what Nikolai was trying to do to her… and it was getting closer…

 _Thud… thud… thud…_


	25. Chapter 25 Nikolai's Fall

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Five: Nikolai's Fall**

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

With her vision already starting to darken from being strangled by the phone cord around her neck, Jill no longer had the strength to fight Nikolai off, or do much else besides try to stop him from forcibly removing her clothes. Gasping and choking for breath, while also hearing those horrible, heavy footsteps coming up the long stairwell form the first floor. But how was that possible? Freeing itself from the truck was one thing, but surviving the explosion of an _entire_ building? There was just no way.

Her thoughts momentarily interrupted when the Lieutenant tightened the cord around her neck, the young woman started to panic, which seemed to please Nikolai as he kept her pinned down, and then he backhanded her probably just to add insult to injury. However as her whole body shook from the blow and she spit out more blood, her hand brushed against something… something that might just save her life.

 _Thud... thud… thud…_

With the last of her strength, the young woman grabbed onto the handle of the knife that was on his belt, freeing it from the sheath, and causing her tormentor to howl in surprise and pain when she jammed it into his side. Jill didn't have the strength to make it pierce more than an inch or so, but it was enough to finally allow her to take a labored, gasping breath when Nikolai was forced to let go of the cord in order to jump back. Ripping the cord from herself and tossing it down before rubbing her reddened throat with her free hand, the young woman coughed hoarsely while keeping the blade pointed right at him so that he couldn't…

 _Bang!_ Once again it was Jill's turn to feel surprise and pain when the Lieutenant took the pistol out from behind his back in order to shoot the blade out of her hands. There was a burning sensation across her fingers, even though the bullet had struck the handle instead of her flesh, and with the broken pieces of the weapon falling to the floor, there was now nothing to keep Nikolai from shooting her… except for the room shaking a little when he finally seemed to notice the loud thumping sound that had now reached the top of the stairs.

"What the _hell_ is that?" The Lieutenant asked, turning around just as a very _large_ figure passed in front of the hallway windows. "What in the name of…

" _Sstarss_." The Pursuer growled, as if answering him when it stepped into the doorway.

The monster immediately made eye contact with Jill, and looked like it was starting to walk right toward her… if Nikolai hadn't started shooting at it, that is. _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Suddenly in a panic as he backed away, the Lieutenant pulled the trigger of his pistol again and again, sending each bullet into the exact middle of the Pursuer's forehead, which _should_ have killed almost anything… _almost_. _Bang! Bang!_ Changing clips and continuing to shoot the monster, Nikolai backed up until his legs were against the table that the radio equipment was on… and now the monster was coming toward him.

Walking right through the pistol bullets as if it didn't even feel them, the Pursuer grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him off his feet. Now growling at Nikolai with what almost sounded with annoyance, it started to move its hand toward the Lieutenant's face in order to stab him with that hidden tentacle, but then a sudden flash of something catching fire out on the streets below caught the monster's attention… causing it to move its mouth as if it were smiling.

For a few moments the Pursuer just stated out the window like it was deep in though while its victim was kicking and flailing to free himself… and then Nikolai suddenly screamed when it tossed him right into the glass. _Crash_! The window shattered completely, raining tiny shards toward the ground below while the screaming Lieutenant vanished from sight, and then a couple seconds later there was a loud _wham_ from below just before a car alarm started going off.

The Pursuer had stood there and watched out the window for the whole time that Nikolai was falling, turning around only after the final impact, only to growl loudly when it discovered that Jill was gone. While it had been taking its time with the Lieutenant, the young woman had made her escape, stopping only long enough to recover her pistol as well as the jammed rifle, before sneaking out of the office. By the time she heard it growling and starting to come after her, Jill was already passing the second floor landing of the stairwell, and by this time the smoke coming out of the second floor was getting so thick that it concealed her location.

" _Sssstaaarrrsss_!" The monster roared from above as it also entered the stairwell.

It also made her choke a little, too, but that only mattered until she had reached the bottom of the stairs, crossed the lobby, and shouldered her way through the front doors back out onto the street. The good news here was that she could breathe again, and Nikolai had been dealt with _before_ he could rape and kill her, but in Raccoon City there was _always_ bad news to go right along with it, and this time that bad news came in the form of the Pursuer when it broke the press building's doors off its hinges when it chased her out into the street.

Sprinting as hard and fast as she could, Jill's only hope was to somehow get back to the cable car before it caught her, and now that the power was on there shouldn't have been a problem getting the transit started up… as long as she could make it there. Unfortunately, even for as big and heavy as the monster was, it could run a lot faster than she could, and the young woman had to fight back the tears from fright that were starting to well up in her eyes as she heard it getting closer… and closer…

With an angry growl, the Pursuer reached out to grab her once it was within arms range, but missed when Jill dropped to the ground, rolled a couple times, and then scrambled off in a different direction back toward the construction site. As for the monster, it had been running so fast that it was unable to stop after failing to reach the young woman, resulting with an irritated growl when it tripped and fell on its face, sliding a foot or so across the concrete while the young woman went around one of the finished walls of the new building in order to break the line of sight between them.

Thankfully, she and Nikolai had cleared out most of the infected people along the fastest route through the construction site, so Jill was not immediately set upon by zombies, and in turn able to find some cover before the monster passed through the construction fence, itself. It stopped almost immediately, though, squinting its single eye while turning its scarred head to look over the area, and this gave the young woman hope because it meant that it didn't know where she was yet.

 _Thud… thud… thud_ … moving again, this time at a slow walking pace, the monster began to look around all of the walls and equipment that it came to, making the young woman glad that there was only a few minutes of daylight left, since the dim orange light and severely elongated shadows allowed her to move away from the Pursuer in the opposite direction. Once there was some distance between them, it became easier to move place to place, so long as she listened for the monster's movements in order to tell where it was before coming out of hiding.

"That's right, you big, stupid bastard." She whispered as it went further away. "Go that way so I can…

Jill was so intent on avoiding the monster, that she didn't notice the hard-hat wearing zombie that was just around the corner of the wall she was passing by, and now it was groaning _very_ loudly as it shambled forward, drooling with arms outstretched. _Bang_! Taken completely by surprise, and startled into a reflexive action, the young woman aimed her pistol and shot the infected man in the head, putting a hole right through its hard-hat, before feeling a knot form in her stomach upon realizing what she had just done.

" _Sstarss_!" The Pursuer's deep, inhuman voice yelled.

 _Thud-thud-thud-thud_! With a roar that echoed throughout the construction site, she could hear the monster's thundering footsteps as it ran toward where the gunshot came from. Any second now it was going to be on her, and the only place that she could think of to hide were around the wall where she had just killed that zombie, and over nearby one of the large dump trucks that had been abandoned on the site. Once the monster saw the dead zombie, it was definitely going to search around the wall, so Jill ran for the big truck, crawling underneath it, and then climbing up so that she was lying on top of the large driveshaft.

As she expected, the monster ran right over to where the infected man had been shot, and the young woman tried to stay quiet while it could be heard walking around the finished wall. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_ , she thought to herself, how on Earth could she have been so God damn dim-witted as to not only let a zombie wearing a bright yellow hard-hat sneak up on her, but also to use her pistol when the worst thing in the world was chasing her? These chastising thoughts were then interrupted when the Pursuer's huge leather boots appeared right next to the truck, causing the young woman to hold her breath, clamping her hand over her mouth… while the monster bent down to look underneath.

It growled and snorted, large amounts of drool flowing out from behind its big human-looking teeth while looking around, and this time Jill knew that if it's single eye turned upward, there would have been nowhere for her to go. By some miracle, however, the monster didn't see her; standing back upright and then moving away to continue its search… while the young woman silently climbed down from on top of the drive shaft. While the Pursuer headed back toward the partially constructed building, Jill crawled out from under the truck and went in the other direction, staying crouched down and hoping to get the rest of the way back to the cable car without being discovered again.


	26. Chapter 26 The Beast Below

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Six: The Beast Below**

So far it seemed like the Pursuer had lost her trail, allowing Jill to breathe a little easier as she exited the construction site through the fence on the other side, crossing the street while making her way back toward The Arcade Shops plaza. A few more of the buildings had caught fire, thanks to the burning zombies that had been stumbling into walls and doors for the past few hours, but now the sun was only minutes away from setting completely, so the fires and all the street lights that still worked were necessary for her to see the way forward.

Many of the infected people that had been shambling around the plaza a few hours ago had fallen, some from being set on fire when the Grill 13 exploded, and others after being attacked by other zombies in a sort of feeding frenzy. This was none of Jill's business, though, her only thoughts being that she needed to get back to Carlos and Mikhail before that monster located her again, but… maybe the injuries that she had sustained from fighting Nikolai were greater than she thought… because it was getting difficult to walk.

"Come on, Jill." She whispered to herself, her head still throbbing from being hit with that phone, as she stumbled forward. "Come on, girl… you can do this… just a little farther."

One of her eyes was starting to swell up, and it was still a little hard to breathe, both from being hit with those brass knuckles and choked with that phone cord... God, her head was _throbbing_ , and now the young woman's legs were beginning to shake. Her head was bleeding when she touched it with her hand, maybe from the phone, or possibly from the glass bottle, didn't matter… what mattered was how much trouble she was starting to have walking, like all her adrenaline was wearing off, causing her to crash and… wait a minute, why was that that street light over there shaking?

In fact, now everything around her was starting to rumble, as if it wasn't her legs that were wobbling, but the very street that she was walking on. These tremors intensified, the young woman now hearing every sound as cracks started to form in the concrete, and now even the nearby zombies started to notice it, groaning with what sounded like surprise as some of them were knocked off their feet. What was this, an _Earthquake_? Raccoon City was set in the middle of the United States, nowhere near and fault lines like what _California_ had, but that knowledge didn't stop the ground between her and the pharmacy from shaking… and then she saw some of the zombies simply vanish… and then more… and more…

"Oh, shit!" Jill exclaimed as she realized what was happening. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Starting when part of the pharmacy collapsed, and then continuing with the zombies that were farthest away from her, the street seemed to be collapsing in a straight line as if a sinkhole had suddenly formed… and it was coming right toward her. Turning away from it and starting to run, the young woman found that it was even harder now to keep her balance, able to do nothing but cry out in fear when the ground literally vanished out from under her.

Falling… looking up as the last rays of dim red light vanished from the sky, and then having the wind knocked out of her when she landed on pieces of broken concrete about fifteen feet below. Sitting up as quickly as she could, and scooting backwards against an old brick wall, the glow from some of the streetlights up above allowed her to see that she was in a sewer tunnel. A lot of the infected people had fallen down there with her as well, but… something was wrong, since they were groaning and rasping excitedly while something made a kind of screeching-hissing sound in the darkness ahead.

This tunnel must have run from the pharmacy over this way, which meant that there had to be a way out up ahead, as the walls were too high and smooth for the young woman to climb, but she needed more light if she was going to survive long enough to find it. Thankfully, Jill had noticed earlier that there was a flashlight mounted on each of the soldiers' rifles, so she corrected the jam that had saved her life, and turned on the surprisingly bright beam.

Now she was able to see that the tunnel passed through a widened chamber up ahead, at least what was left of it, and also what it was that had all the zombies so excited. There was something else down there in the sewers with them, _several_ somethings that were bigger than the infected people, and looked more like giant insects as they reared up and tackled their prey to the ground, stabbing them with pointed legs and tearing into them with large open mandibles.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen once there were no more zombies for the insects to feed on, so the young woman groaned in pain as she pulled herself to her feet, now limping a little while starting to make her way through the tunnel into what was left of the central chamber, but then gasping when one of the insects jumped into her path. Raising her rifle and taking aim before it did to her what it had done to the others, she was surprised when the beast shrieked upon having the light shined on it, and now the insect jumped back as if in extreme pain.

"Get the _fuck_ away from me!" Jill warned, staying quiet while moving the light to keep it blinded. "Get back!"

It shrieked every time the light shined on it, getting louder each time, and moving a lot less gracefully now as it was driven back… but then it happened. _CRASH_! Something _big_ slammed right into the wall next to the insect, causing a brief rain of dirt and bricks before a gigantic mouth opened, nearly swallowing the insect whole as it continued on through the other side of the tunnel, making an equally large hole as it moved on.

The young woman just stood there, paralyzed by the shock of what she had just seen; its body was long and tubular, sort of like a worm or a centipede, and when it had opened its mouth, the jaw which at first had been held together like a kind of drill-bit, split into four segments, each with row upon row of sharp teeth. _CRASH_! Tearing into another segment of the tunnel, this tunneling abomination scooped up insects and zombies alike, crushing them to death in its powerful jaws while making yet another hole in the wall... and it was only a matter of time before it came for _her_.

So she ran, using the rifle's flashlight to blind any of the insects that noticed her, and not worrying too much about the few remaining zombies, since they were all being preyed upon by one thing or another. _CRASH_! This time directly behind her, the young woman moved as fast as she could with her hurt leg, stumbling out of the chamber, and into a partially collapsed tunnel where a manhole cover had fallen, revealing a ladder in the glow of the streetlights. A roar echoed against the walls as she heard it getting closer, moving much faster than she was, and opening its jaws to scoop up the insects that were chasing her as well.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, and leaping the last couple feet up onto the ladder, Jill's knees hit against the metal rungs as she climbed as fast as she could, only to nearly get knocked off when something powerful struck the part beneath her. _Wham!_ Some of the bolts came loose as the tunneling beast destroyed the lower half of the ladder, collapsing more of the street as it dug a new tunnel further on, but thankfully it was not in the same direction that the young woman needed to go as she pulled herself back up onto the surface.

Hopefully the streetlights would be enough to keep the remaining insects from escaping long enough for her to get back to the cable car… oh, thank God, Central Station was just across the City Hall courtyard from there. Leaving what remained of The Arcade Shops far behind as she stumbled across the grassy, hedge-filled courtyard, Jill found herself getting out of breath quickly, having to lean on every light pole and tree that she passed in order to keep from falling over; the toll of all her injuries seeming to all be catching up to her at once, intensifying as she got closer to the cable car.

"Friendly… friendly coming…" She tried to call out, leaning against the locked door and taking in a deep breath. "Carlos!"

She could hear the sound of some muffled footsteps quickly approaching, and then some light from above when the door was opened, and she found herself collapsing to the floor inside. It was Carlos who picked her up, first dragging her the rest of the way inside, and then scooping her up into his arms while Mikhail, who was moving around a hell of a lot better since last time she had seen him, locked the door.

"Jill, what happened?!" The young man exclaimed, setting her down on the same bench where the Captain had been before. "Are you all right?! Where's Nikolai?!"

"We have to go!" Jill replied weakly, her head rolling to the side from fatigue. "Nikolai's dead… that monster… power's on, we… we gotta go _right now_!"

She decided not to tell them about what the Lieutenant had tried to do, nor about the quarter of a million dollar price that Umbrella put on her head… heh, not like she could have been very articulate right then even if she wanted to go into detail. Carlos understood the important parts, making a comment about _her ex-boyfriend being a real asshole_ while Mikhail went over and hit the cable car's starter switch. This time the electrical motor came to life, running through an automated systems check before all the indicator lights turned green.

"Looks like we are ready to go." The Captain said, coming over to Jill and taking something out of his pouch. "Olivera, get us moving, I give tough little lady morphine to stop pain."

The feeling of relief that the young woman felt once Carlos went into the front car and the whole transit shook as they finally started moving, was matched only by how wonderful everything felt when Mikhail gave her a large shot of morphine. It took a few seconds for the drug to start working, and then there was a warm feeling of relief as the pain went from unbearable to making her no longer feel like she was going to pass out… God, she was glad to be moving out of the downtown area.

"You are good girl, Jill Valentine." The Captain said while stroking her hair. "Now we regroup with other units at clock tower, and get out of city once we ring bell for helicopter, da? You just rest, brave girl, Olivera and I will… what the _hell_ is that?"

 _Thud-thud-thud-thud_! Even through the pain and the morphine, Jill recognized the swift and heavy footsteps of the Pursuer as it ran, unseen through the darkness behind the speeding cable car. Then it appeared, not running, but leaping through the air… the monster's full weight and body flying right toward the rear window as if it was about to…

 _CRASH!_


	27. Chapter 27 Sacrifice

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Seven: Sacrifice**

As relieved as he was to be leaving the urban center of Raccoon City behind, the only thing that Carlos could think about was Jill's condition as the cable car started moving. It looked like someone had beat her up pretty bad, and his first thought was that her stalker had gotten a hold of her… although if _that thing_ had, then the young woman probably wouldn't have gotten away. There was another thought that was floating through the young man's mind, one that he didn't want to indulge in, but couldn't help it.

When Jill had literally fallen into the cable car, not only was she all beaten up, but her jacket was open, her belt was undone, and there was a large red line around neck neck as if she had been choked by something. The monster chasing her was pretty relentless and sadistic, from what the young woman had told him had happened to her last partner at the police station just before they met, but its large fingers wouldn't have had the dexterity required to do all that to her.

So, what had happened? Even though she hadn't said anything, it was pretty obvious that the Lieutenant had attacked her, but then what? Was Nikolai interrupted by the monster while trying to force himself on the young woman… or had Jill killed him before it got there? He didn't blame her, regardless of how it all went down, since any man who would attack a woman like that didn't deserve to live, anyway, so he decided to just let it go until…

 _CRASH_! The young man heard glass breaking from the rear car, and then Jill screamed in terror just as something hit the floor hard enough to make the whole transit shake. He knew he was supposed to be driving, but the cable car was on an automatic route, so the young man readied his rifle, running to the door and opening it… just in time to see the young woman's stalker starting to get up. It must have fallen right through the rear window, judging by all the glass on the floor around it, and as for the others, Jill had fallen off the bench in an attempt to crawl away, while Mikhail had his own rifle aimed at the monster.

"Olivera, get Jill out of here, _now_!" The Captain ordered while the monster got up. "Hurry, we'll have to abandon the cable car! I'm right behind you!"

 _Ratta-tatta! Ratta-tatta! Ratta-tatta_! Switching his rifle to fully automatic while the young man dragged Jill through the door into the next car, Mikhail sent a hail of bullets right into the Pursuer's face, causing it to growl while… while walking right through them as if the bullets were nothing but an inconvenience. Once it reached him, the monster grabbed the rifle and pulled it out of the Captain's hands, holding it out like it was about to perform a magic trick, and then effortlessly snapping the weapon in two.

 _Whack_! Before Mikhail could do anything else, the monster swung its arm, the back of its hand catching him across the face, and throwing him sideways so hard that glass was cracked when the back of the Captain's head struck the nearby window. Grunting at the man before facing forward and coming toward the door into the next car, Carlos was getting his own rifle ready… only to be surprised when Mikhail not only got up, but also leapt onto the Pursuer's back.

In the Captain's left hand was a knife that he jammed into the side of the monster's neck like an anchor to a rock-face, and he used his foot to push off the doorframe so that the monster was forced to stumble backwards. _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Using his right hand to take out his pistol, Mikhail held on for dear life, locking his legs around the monster's waist while shooting it repeatedly in the neck opposite of the knife. Once the pistol was empty, he started using it as a club to strike the Pursuer on top of the skull… until the monster reached back, grabbed a hold of the Captain, and tossed him onto the ground up against the engine panel.

 _Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat!_ Now that Mikhail was out of the way, Carlos joined in, crouching down protectively in front of Jill while firing at the monster's back in short controlled bursts so as not to hit the Captain. The young man had expected it to come after him immediately, which would have given Mikhail the chance to get away or at least reload his weapon… but the Pursuer didn't seem interested in anyone else but the Captain at the moment.

Ripping the knife out of its neck and discarding it, the monster ignored the bullets hitting it in the back completely, instead choosing to smack the pistol out of Mikhail's hands just as he was reloading… and causing the Captain to cry out when it lifted its large foot in order to press it down hard on his chest. Growling as if angry at Mikhail, it just kept pushing harder and harder into the man's chest, and Carlos would have rushed in to try and help his commanding officer… if he had not seen what the Captain had taken off of his vest.

"Jill, get back!" The young man warned, hitting the button for the door to close. "Get out of the way, cover your head!"

It was a grenade that Mikhail had grabbed, pulling the pin and then giving the finger to the Pursuer just as the doors to the front car were closing. Jill had been unable to pull herself away from the door, so Carlos got on top of her on the floor to shield the young woman from what was coming next so that _BOOM!_ Every window on the cable car was shattered as the concussive blast made the whole transit jump; lights flickering as the door between the cars was knocked off its hinges to reveal that… it had all been destroyed.

The entire back half of the rear car was just _gone_ ; black scorch marks along the metal around the hole where the outside world was now visible, and no sign at all of Mikhail or the monster. The young man had hoped that the Captain somehow survived, but a grenade blast at that range… no… no, Mikhail had given his life to protect him and Jill, well… probably mostly for Jill, but… hey, that was strange… with the engine gone the cable car should have been slowing down, but then… why were they accelerating?

Taking another moment to help Jill up to a sitting position, Carlos rushed to the controls, only to look out the window and see that the reason they were accelerating was because the cable car tracks were now taking them down a very steep hill. No problem, the young man thought, quickly looking over the controls for the throttle, he could just slow them down a little, and then everything would be okay. However, the throttle didn't respond… probably because they didn't have an engine anymore, so he pulled on the brake lever just a bit to slow them down… and then a bit more… and then a bit more… with absolutely nothing happening.

Mikhail's grenade must have destroyed the brakes as well, because now nothing was working, and even the lights inside the transit flickered out a second later. The first thing that Carlos saw as darkness filled the transit was all the lights shining from the clock tower, which was apparently at the bottom of the hill… however, in the streetlights around it, he could also see that the tracks curved sharply to the right in order to proceed around the tower's outer wall toward Raccoon Station, but… at that speed…

"Jill, we're gonna crash!" He exclaimed, crouching down and using his body to protect her once again. "Shut your eyes, and hang onto something!"

For a few more seconds the ride was smooth, but then just as the young man predicted, the cable car was going so fast that it jumped right off its tracks at the bottom of the hill, and kept going. Sparks flew as the transit tore across open concrete, striking vehicles and simply shoving them out of the way as it bounced toward the large outer wall of the clock tower's courtyard, and then there was an overpowering crunch after the car jumped one last time, and everything came to a sudden stop… everything except for Carlos and Jill, that is.

They were thrown forward, slamming into the floor and walls as the cable car tilted sideways, destroying part of the wall as it embedded itself halfway into the top part of the wall like a kind of bizarre modern gargoyle. They were alive, though… all bruised and cut up, holding onto each other like a couple of kids who had just been scared by a horror movie, but alive. Alone now, too, the young man had just realized… Mikhail and Nikolai were gone, and now it was all up to him to find a way for them to get out of the city.

"Jill, come on." Carlos groaned weakly. "Come on, we gotta get out of here… the others will be inside, they… they'll have medical supplies."

With all the damage to both the cable car and the wall itself, the only way for them to get out of the ruined transit was to climb out through the car's front window, which would have been hard enough if the two of them hadn't been in their current condition. It took a while, but working together allowed the young man to climb down onto the grassy courtyard first, and then having to catch Jill when she lost her grip, causing them both to fall onto the ground.

Well, they had made it… this was the _St. Michael Clock Tower_ , or at least its brightly illuminated courtyard. The wall completely encircled this area that was carpeted with grass and stone walkways. A very large and elaborate decorative fountain dominated the center of this place, like the Mayor's statue had done at City Hall, and the really old fashioned light poles allowed them to see plenty of short, well-manicured hedges along each walkway.

The front door was up ahead, a big and grandiose set of wooden double doors, set into a massive stone building that was accented with stained glass windows, making this place look more like a church than a clock tower. The sun had completely set now, leaving Raccoon City shrouded in darkness, and Carlos definitely did not want to be outside when those giant insects he had seen before, decided to crawl out of their tunnels.

"Mikhail." Jill said weakly, the young man not sure if it was a statement or a question.

"Let's just get inside." Carlos replied, helping her up. "Come on… we'll be safe inside the tower."


	28. Chapter 28 The Clock Tower

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Eight: The Clock Tower**

Like most of the older, historical buildings around Raccoon City, such as the police station, St. Michael Clock Tower was a beautifully designed structure. Obviously, the most predominant was the massive clock itself, the tower of which was taller than every other building in the city, but the inside of the place was just as marvelous to see. Having lived in Raccoon City for a long time, this was not Jill's first visit to the place, although last time had back in 1995 during the hunt for yet another killer.

At the time the northern part of the city was in the grip of fear, when several prostitutes were found murdered, and the local press certainly didn't help when they started referring to him as Raccoon City's very own Jack the Ripper. Yes, prostitution was illegal in the city, as with everywhere else in the United States except for _Nevada_ for some reason, but that didn't stop desperate young woman from getting busted by the police for it every now and then, nor did it stop depraved sickos from preying on them.

Jill was fresh out of the police academy then, nothing but a rookie with even less experience than when she had been used as bait to catch the college killer about half a year later, so she had been both thrilled and terrified about her very first time going undercover. It was like Lieutenant Liquid had picked her for sting operations the moment he laid eyes on her, and at his request, the young woman soon found herself in a short skirt, blue tube top, and knee-high boots, walking the streets near the clock tower like any other _working girl_.

Long story short, the killer was a woman whose husband had cheated on her with a prostitute or something, and had tried to use a stun-gun on her after offering to share her umbrella when it was raining in the courtyard. The self-defense weapon had stopped working for some reason, though, allowing Jill to punch her into unconsciousness instead of getting knocked out herself, and being called a hero by the Mayor for the arrest. The young woman later found out that Tobias had been planning to bring her into Homicide Division if she hadn't been picked up for STARS by Captain Marini.

"I don't think it's locked." Carlos said, interrupting her thoughts. "Help me pull the door."

The heavy wooden door opened outward, and certainly took both of them to move, but then they were bathed in the warm yellow light from the three large chandeliers that illuminated the tower's main hall. The marble floor was so shiny that it was almost like a mirror as they walked into the room, the elaborately carved stone walls and stained glass windows both there and along the second floor walkway making it feel like a grand cathedral, complete with a thick red carpet that ran from the front door all the way up the stone staircase across from them.

Besides the staircase leading to the walkway, there was a door to the far left and far right, providing access to the rest of the tower's first floor, but it was strange… Mikhail had said that the rest of the UBCS unit was going to be there, but Jill didn't see a single soldier, nor did she hear anyone. Even if the others were in another part of the tower, a military unit would have had someone watching the front door, but at first glance this place seemed just as abandoned as the police station when she and Brad had gone inside.

 _Someone_ had been there, though, since the long tables that usually sat right in front and the doors with informational brochures and flyers for upcoming events, were now turned on their sides, stacked together behind the staircase like some kind of makeshift wall. No soldiers hiding behind it, though, only a rifle on the floor with some shell casings nearby… and some blood splattered across the nearby support pillar like something had crashed into it… and then fallen into the larger amount of dried blood that was pooled up on the floor.

"It looks like they were attacked." The young man commented, looking at the scene. "That rifle doesn't look like one of ours, though."

He was right, and after helping her to sit down in the chair that had been overturned, Jill was able to pick up the weapon, an _AR-15_ , and see that it was _definitely_ not like the ones that they were carrying. For once, the Umbrella issued M4's were made by _Springfield Armory_ , while the AR-15 had the stamp of being repurposed by the Kendo Brothers… right next to the engraved RPD emblem that meant it was for police use only, just like the one on the grip of her 9mm pistol.

"What the hell is a police rifle doing out here?" She asked, looking around the area again. "Do you think some of the rescue teams made it this far?"

The fact that there was no one with the weapon, as well as all the blood, made this seem like too much to hope for, but maybe it meant that there were still others somewhere inside the building, RPD or no. Carlos took the remaining bullets out of it, and used them to refill his own magazines since the two rifles used the same ammo, and then Jill needed to be helped to her feet again, before they decided to investigate the door that was closest to them.

"Hello?" The young man called, his voice echoing throughout the room. "Is anybody here? You know I'm human because I'm talking right now, so come out."

They waited for a minute or so, with only silence to greet them once the echoes died down, and then the young woman used her free arm to keep her rifle ready as Carlos opened the door. Inside was a historical dining room that had once been used to hold the first political meetings back when Raccoon City was a much smaller place… decades before Umbrella moved in and _breathed life_ into the small mid-western town. Everything had been perfectly preserved from the last meeting some fifty years ago; the large, solid oak table and chairs, the faded black and white photographs on the fireplace mantle, everything with the exception of the room's chandelier, which had been concerted to use small lightbulbs instead of candles.

At least, that's how it was the _last time_ she was there, and now the place literally looked like a tornado had come through, with the table smashed in half, some of the chairs overturned or broken, and lots of bullet holes peppering the white colored walls. Only a little blood, though, next to an abandoned pistol like the one that Nikolai carried, but it used 9mm ammo, so Jill used it to refill her clips. Something bad had happened inside this room, looking like something _big_ had come charging through, with the humans retreating through the far door, since all the bullet holes were on the side of the room closest to them.

Clearly, this was the right way to go, since the door into the next room had been broken into pieces that littered the ceramic tile within… and now at least the young woman had _some_ idea of what happened to the soldiers that were supposed to be there. Half a dozen of them were inside the next room, lying dead with their bodies in twisted, unnatural positions as if whatever charged through there had simply destroyed them and moved on. A few were slumped halfway over the frame of the broken windows, while another looked like he had been body-slammed right through what had once been the beautiful grand piano that was played for gatherings at the tower's small chapel.

" _Dios en el cielo_." The young man whispered, keeping Jill held tightly against him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looks like your _ex-boyfriend_ came through here."

"I don't know, maybe." The young woman replied, needing to be held up by him when her leg started to give out. "The chapel door's still intact… come on… I need to rest a minute."

She didn't like being a burden, and tried to simply tough it out, but now that Mikhail's morphine was wearing off, the extent of Jill's injuries were catching up to her again. Her left eye was swollen more than halfway shut, it was still a little hard to breathe from being choked, and the young woman could still feel it where Nikolai had punched her in the stomach with those brass knuckles. All that on top of the fatigue from, well… _everything_ , was making it hard for her to even hold the rifle on her own, and Carlos was practically carrying her by the time they reached the door to the chapel.

This part of the tower was just as well preserved as the main hall had been, the rows of wooden pews untouched by the combat outside, and the small alter at the front of the room set up with its cloth and holy relics just like she remembered it… with the exception of the single UBCS soldier sitting up against the far wall, crouched up like he had been hiding behind the last pew… pistol in his hand, and blood splattered on the wall behind him from what was probably a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Jill disapproved of suicide more than anything, not that she could really blame the people trapped in these situations, like the frightened soldier right there on the floor, and the man she and Chris Redfield had seen hanging by the neck at the Spencer Estate. Nothing that could be done for either of them by the time anyone found them, and it didn't exactly help her confidence that they could survive this ordeal to see people taking that way out.

What the hiding man _did_ have, though, was a fully supplied medical pouch, complete with a _cold-press_ that Carlos retrieved after helping her sit down on the pew, taking a moment to do the sign of the cross for his fallen comrade, and then making Jill sigh with relief when he placed it onto her swollen eye. The young man gave her another shot of morphine as well, hoping that she wouldn't get addicted to it like he had seen happen to a lot of soldiers, and then the young woman leaned onto him, putting her head on his shoulder to keep the cold-press in place while his arms went around her.

Was there a chance that the young man would get the wrong idea from this? Sure, but at the moment Jill didn't really care; she just wanted to be held for a while, and the fact that Carlos was attractive with big arms was just a bonus. After surviving the Spencer Estate last summer, she had believed that nothing could ever be that horrible again, but Raccoon City was so much worse, and not just because of the Pursuer.

It was because the whole time at the mansion, she had known that all she had to do was call Brad for pickup, and then they could go back to Raccoon City where everything was normal… but now instead of being some isolated building, it was the _whole damn_ city. _Thousands_ of people had fallen victim to the T-Virus because of Umbrella's greed, and if the soldiers in the clock tower were gone, then how were they supposed to signal for evacuation like Mikhail had planned?

"Everything's gonna be okay, _novia_." The young man said, stroking her hair. "You'll see… Mikhail killed your ex-boyfriend, I'm _sure_ of it, and I'm gonna keep you safe until we get out of here… I promise."

"Just hold me for a little while." Jill replied, burying her face more deeply into his shoulder. "Just hold me."


	29. Chapter 29 No Survivors

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Twenty Nine: No Survivors**

Jill had fallen asleep almost immediately after resting her head on his shoulder, allowing Carlos some time to think about everything that was going on, especially the part about how she had claimed that Umbrella was responsible for what was happening to the city. A big corporation like that certainly had the funding to do all kinds of unethical research into crazy shit that the young man would never think of, but then again… if the company _was_ responsible, then why send in a military unit to rescue civilians?

Could it have all been some bizarre accident that caused the people to become zombies, like a chemical spill or something? Carlos might have believed that, right up until seeing that monster that had been chasing Jill all over Raccoon City… no way in hell that thing was created by accident… it had _metal stitches_ across its head, for God's sake. An hour had passed by the time the young woman started to wake up, and he was relieved to see that some of the swelling on her eye had gone down.

"I must've fallen asleep." She yawned while stretching her arms and sitting up. "What time is it?"

"I think it's been about an hour or so." He replied. "Are you feeling any better?"

Jill nodded, remarking that a nap was just what she needed, with most of her fatigue gone even though her head was still throbbing. Still, there had been no noises or any other signs of movement that the young man could hear for the entire time that she slept, but that could have just meant that the rest of his unit was simply on the other side of the clock tower… at least, he hoped. The only way to find out for sure was to go and investigate, since there were clearly no patrols going, so Carlos got up and helped the young woman to her feet, since she was still a little wobbly even though moving around a whole lot better.

Even though nothing had happened on the way into the clock tower's small chapel, that didn't mean that the two of them were safe, so the young man went first, putting his ear against the door to listen for movement, and then opening it after not hearing anything. The temperature outside was starting to drop, and the wind was picking up as well, blowing in through the broken windows across from the destroyed grand piano while Jill zipped up her leather jacket… before turning a little red in the face after finally noticing that her belt was undone.

"Are you okay, Jill?" Carlos asked, watching her.

Her hands fumbled a bit while she did it up, and now her breathing became more rapid while avoiding eye contact with him. The young man had seen this same behavior with soldiers in a few different countries, usually after a really bad battle, or having to do something that they were ashamed of… either way, it was some really bad memories that were going through the young woman's mind, judging by how quick she was to keep walking forward after fixing herself. Carlos was about to ask her again if she was okay, but was interrupted when one of the soldiers hanging over the broken window frame suddenly groaned while starting to get up.

"Jill, look out!" The young man yelled, raising his rifle and firing a single shot into the back of the zombie's head, making it fall back down. "Oh shit, behind you!"

The young woman cried out in surprise, looking down and pulling her leg back just as the infected man who had been lying on the wreckage of the grand piano reached out to grab her ankle… only to lift her leg up and bring her boot down on the side of its skull as hard as she could with a sickening _squish_! All of the other dead soldiers in the room were starting to reanimate, but thankfully most of their bodies were so broken by whatever killed them, that they could do little more than groan while reaching almost pathetically toward the two humans.

Some of the others that weren't so damaged, however, were now getting to their feet or starting to crawl across the tile floor, and as much as Carlos wanted to just run away, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving his comrades to suffer like that. So he slung the rifle over his shoulder, took the pistol out from behind his back, and aimed at the first one crawling toward his feet. _Bang! Bang!_ Light and noise filled the room as the young man shot that one in the head first, and couldn't help thinking how much easier it was to kill zombies _after_ they had a few broken bones.

Was it a waste of pistol bullets? Maybe, but it was worth it to end the suffering of his fellow soldiers, and now after a few more shots, the path was clear for the two of them to return to the main hall. As they passed through the wrecked dining room and back through the room they had entered, heading toward the door on the opposite side, Carlos realized that Jill was not the only one who was being hit hard by what was happening around them. He had been on different battlefields since childhood, but he had never seen his comrades get wiped out like this before, not by fucking _zombies_ … nor had he ever had to execute them, himself.

Again, there was nothing that could be heard as he put his ear to the door that was just past the carpeted staircase, but just to be safe the young man motioned for the young woman to stand back while he opened it into what looked like a library… at least, once upon a time. Like the dining room and piano hall, this place had been torn to shreds, with the rows and rows of carefully collected and organized books now lying scattered across the floor, with most of the bookcases having either fallen over or been broken next to them.

More bodies, too, looking like the same sort of thing happened to these guys as the ones in the piano room; bullet holes riddling the walls, and the bodies left in twisted, unnatural positions with extreme damage as if they had been beaten to death instead of bitten. Biggest difference in this ransacked library, though, was that there were civilians lying amongst them, and even a couple police officers. Weapons were scattered on the floor as well, but these were mostly empty, as if they had gotten more shots off before getting overwhelmed by what could have only been Jill's _ex-boyfriend_.

"More RPD issue weapons." The young woman said, this time picking up a shotgun that had an extremely bent barrel. "AR-15 rifles, M-1100 shotguns, and… and .45 caliber revolvers? The RPD doesn't even _issue_ these anymore, since everyone switched to the 9mm, but they're stamped just like the others. Where the hell did these come from?"

 _Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Not wanting to take any chances on any of these people coming back to life as zombies, the two of them took out their pistols, and put a bullet in the heads of everyone who was lying there, both to give the victim's peace, and also to avoid another undead ambush like what nearly happened in the piano room. Luckily, there were enough bullets left in the dead soldiers' weapons to replenish what they used for it, but at least there was a tiny bit of good news, in that there was no suicide victim in the room beyond the library.

With the choice of two doors that could be explored from this point, Jill chose the one on the right, a simple wooden one that opened up into what might have been someone's living room back in the old days. It consisted of a small wooden sofa and ceramic coffee table, some dusty old photographs on the ledge of the bay window, and even an old chess set sitting on a smaller table right next to the fireplace. Unlike the library, this place hadn't been touched in a long time, nor had the old bedroom through the open doorway next to the sofa.

Nothing in there but a really big, but uncomfortable as hell looking bed with some end tables… although Carlos did stare at the bed for a few seconds while having a pretty vivid fantasy about himself and the young woman being underneath the heavy blankets… and the two of them being too much for the squeaky old springs to handle. Apparently, Jill didn't have the same hesitation, since when the young man finally snapped out of it, she was already headed back into the library, so he followed her back into the scene of the… massacre, catching up to her just as she was reaching the other door, this one marked _STORAGE_.

"This is where they keep all the spare parts for the big clock." The young woman said before listening at the door. "The only thing past that is the back door, so if there's anyone left alive in here, this is where they will be."

"All right, we'll be careful this time." Carlos replied, thinking that if there _was_ anyone around, they would have heard the gunshots a minute ago. "I'll go in first."

He already knew that there was no one inside before listening at the door and then pushing it open, at least no one _alive_ , that is. The entire UBCS unit that was supposed to be holding the clock tower had been wiped out, as had all of the civilian survivors that they managed to rescue, and inside the storage room was nothing but a bunch of old statues, a really sturdy looking wooden back door, and… and a bunch of ID cards laid out on top of a large crate? Yeah, just like it appeared, there were a dozen drivers licenses laid out on top of the partially open crate, probably in an attempt to log in all the civilians for evacuation… hold on, one of them was different.

"Hey, Jill, take a look at this." Carlos said, picking up the card. " _Bradley Vickers, Raccoon City Police Department, Special Tactics and Rescue Service_. Hey, that's what _STARS_ stands for, right? Is this guy one of yours?"

"Let me see that." She replied, snatching it from his hand. "Yeah, this is Brad's card, remember, the one I told you I was at the police station with? But he said he took a cable car and… oh, my God, I think I know what happened to the people here. Brad must have come here to be evacuated, and this was where he first met that _monster_ … do you think it killed everyone here because it was after him, and they got in the way?"

It was possible, but at that moment the young man's attention was brought to the partially open crate that all the ID cards were sitting on, mostly with the words stamped onto the side that read:

 _LIEUTENANT TOBIAS A. LIQUID_

 _RACCOON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT_

 _TASK FORCE ARKLAY_

Upon asking her what _Task Force Arklay_ was, Jill stood frozen for a second, only to startle Carlos with her sudden movement so badly that he couldn't help gasping when she pulled open the crate's lid, knocking the ID cards onto the hardwood floor. Inside the crate were more of the weapons and ammo that the two of them had seen scattered around the dead soldiers and civilians. There were .45 revolvers, M-1100 shotguns, AR-15 rifles, and something else, too… it looked like there was a second layer underneath that hadn't been disturbed yet, so either the UBCS guys hadn't noticed it… or they were interrupted by Jill's stalker before they could.

"I think this is all the stuff that Tobias requisitioned for his task force last spring." The young woman explained as they worked together to uncover the second layer of supplies. "Oh, my _God_ , Carlos, look at this stuff!"


	30. Chapter 30 Ring the Bell

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty: Ring the Bell**

Jill could hardly believe what she was seeing as she and Carlos worked together to remove the ridiculously heavy top layer of weapons off the large crate, revealing the things that the UBCS soldiers must not have had time to find, themselves. Firstly, there was a lot of surveillance equipment and other highly technical things that were more suited toward setting up a base camp, instead of escaping a city… too heavy to be moved practically, as well. The item that grabbed the young woman's attention, however, was the item sitting next to it.

"Is that a fucking _grenade launcher_?" Carlos asked as she opened the single-shot chamber. "What did your friend need _that_ for?"

Tobias Liquid was by no means Jill's friend, but yes, the weapon that she was now holding was an _M-79 Grenade Launcher_ , but after having spent time at the Spencer Estate, the young woman knew that its purpose was for shooting things that were normally pretty difficult to handle. Boy, this would have been nice to have when the Pursuer was after her in the police station… maybe she could have saved both Brad _and_ Mikhail.

Next to the launcher, tucked next to a compact computer of some kind, was a large belt of some kind, too big to go around the young woman's slender waist, but maybe it could go over her shoulder, especially since there seemed to be grenade shells for the launcher inside. Probably just the standard _explosive rounds_ , Jill thought opening one of the pouches after putting the belt over her shoulder, but then she saw the blue colored cap on the end when she took out the first shell, and nearly dropped it when she saw that the letter _N_ was engraved into the casing.

"What's wrong?" The young man asked as she went around the belt, checking the other shells. "Is everything okay?"

"Carlos, do you have any _idea_ what this is?" The young woman asked excitedly while showing him one of them. "Carlos, these are _Nitrogen Grenades_! They explode like normal shells, but instead of blowing things up, they _freeze_ everything in the blast radius _solid_. How in the hell did Tobias _actually_ get approval for… this is _Umbrella R &D_ stuff."

Regardless of how the approval had come, Jill now had a grenade launcher, as well as a dozen of the freezing rounds, eleven left on the belt after she loaded one into the chamber. Obviously, this weapon was only to be used in emergencies, unlike the ammo and spare clips that she and the young man were taking for their other weapons. The instructions that Carlos had received from Mikhail said that all they had to do was ring the clock tower's bell, and the extraction helicopter would come flying in, but… off the top of her head, the young woman didn't know how to do that.

"How hard can it be to ring a _campana estu'pida_?" He asked after this concern was brought up. "The controls are probably upstairs, so let's go figure it out, and get out of… oh, wow, look at that over _there_."

Sitting over in a corner, partially hidden by one of the support pillars of the storage room, was a very large metal case that neither of them had noticed before. The lid was open, and inside was a _very_ large rocket launcher, bigger than any that Jill had seen, even during her time in the Army. Now, that would have taught the Pursuer a lesson, she thought while trying to pick it up… nope, too heavy for her to lift by herself. Even with Carlos's help, they could only lift the long, tubular rocket launcher a couple feet before needing to rest, like the thing was supposed to be mounted on a tank or something… forget it, they had to ring those bells.

Leaving the rocket launcher and the rest of the supplies where they sat inside the storage room, the young man led the way as they headed back through the library, with Jill watching their backs. An echoing sound was produced by each of their steps as they moved up the carpeted, stone staircase, and even more so once they reached the marble surface of the second floor walkway. It was partially enclosed with a thick guard wall and decorative crown molding, providing lots of shadowy cover for… no reason at all… there was nothing on the walkway but some smaller stained glass windows, only a long path and a heavy wooden door at the end.

When she turned the latch and pulled the door open, it produced a stone scraping sound, and now the young woman couldn't help but shiver when the significantly colder wind blew into the building. This was to be expected, being that it was the end of September, with only colder temperatures to be expected as Raccoon City moved toward the winter months, and the wind was definitely picking up when she and Carlos stepped out onto the large stone balcony. Decorative searchlights were pointed at the clock at the top of the tower, which extended upward several stories, but as they looked around, there was no stairway or elevator… only an old metal service ladder that was bolted to the wall in front.

"I was hoping the controls would be down _here_ , but I guess you and me aren't that lucky." The young man commented, swallowing hard when he saw just how high up the clock was. "So… do you wanna go up and work on the clock, and I'll, uh… keep our exit covered?"

"Come on, Carlos, it's just a ladder… a really, uh… _high_ ladder." Jill replied, only just now seeing for herself how high it was. "We're safer if we stay together, and besides… aren't you supposed to be my _gran he'roe valiente_?"

The look on his face when she said that, told her that the young man was going to be right behind her when she started climbing, even though as she got higher and higher off the ground, the young woman had wished that he had volunteered to just go up himself. Wow, this was high up, she thought, gripping the sides of the ladder so hard that her knuckles were turning white… oh, _great_ , and now the _wind_ was blowing just hard enough to make her feel like she was going to fall with every step upward.

"How you doing down there, Carlos?" She called down, stopping herself after almost _looking_ down as well. "You all right?"

"Oh, I'm just doing _wonderful_ down here." He called back up, sounding more nervous that she did. "But you know… the view from down here is _perfect_."

Jill knew damn well that he was talking about her ass, and that would have offended her coming from most men, but when Carlos said it, the comment actually… made her smile a little as the climb continued. Now higher up than the tallest buildings of Raccoon City, the young woman could now see the distant searchlights of the RPD off in the distance, as well as the Raccoon City Hospital that was less than a block away from the tower, itself, just before the ladder ended at a trapdoor that went up into the clock.

Thankfully, the trapdoor was unlocked, and after climbing up into what looked like a wooden shack, Jill reached down and helped Carlos the rest of the way up. He looked even more grateful than she was to get off that damn ladder, and now at least they were out of the wind… still without the slightest idea of how to ring the bell, though. This small area behind the massive clock face was more like a machinist's workshop than anything else, with the majority of the space occupied by the gears and mechanisms that kept the hands moving steadily, but nothing that was simply labeled _bell control_.

"Jesus, look at this mess." The young woman commented, looking around. "This place is even worse than the clock on the third floor of the police station."

"Well, there's gotta be _some_ way to get the bells to ring again." Carlos replied, carefully inspecting every piece of machinery that he came across. "There has to be a control panel, or some pull-chains, or… hey, Jill… Jill, come look at this."

She had to duck underneath some of the spinning gears in order to reach the part of the workshop that the young man had been investigating, and when Jill finally got there and saw what he was pointing at, she couldn't help but laugh a little. Right in front of them, there was a piece of wood jammed into the place where three different gears intersected, and down below where the connections ran for that large gearbox… a very large bell was just barely visible through the cracks in the wooden floor.

"Is… is that all there is?" The young woman asked. "Is this piece of wood _really_ how your team got the bell to stop until they were ready for extraction?"

"Well, they probably didn't know any more about how the clock works than we do." Carlos answered, grabbing onto the piece of wood with both hands. "And I'm not gonna complain if pulling this one stick out of these gears is what gets me out of this city… _santa mierda… dame una mano."_

Jill joined him in grabbing onto the piece of wood, bracing her leg against the metal frame of the gear box while both of them pulled on the thing as hard as they could… but it just wouldn't budge. The young man put his leg on the gearbox as well, with both of them leaning back, pulling on the wood piece, and straining with all their might… until the piece was dislodged, sending the two of them falling to the floor while the wood itself was sent flying across the room.

 _BONG_! The gears and chains below began turning the moment the obstruction was clear, and a second later the whole workshop shook as the bell underneath them was struck. _BONG_! They had done it; this was the signal for evacuation, and now any minute there was going to be a helicopter coming specifically to set both of them free from this nightmare. Carlos let out a victory cheer, stopping for a second after Jill gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then cheering even louder as the bell continued to ring.

"Come on!" The young woman yelled over the ringing while getting to her feet. "The helicopter will be here any minute; we've got to get to the courtyard!"

"I'm right behind you!" The young man yelled back, having to cover his ears as the bells seemed to get louder. "God damn it, we gotta go down this ladder again."

 _BONG_! As much as she hated being up this high, Jill didn't mind climbing back down the ladder as the peels of the bell were now echoing all across Raccoon City, but now as she made her way back down toward the tower's stone balcony, the almost unbearable ringing was starting to sound like the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. _BONG_! Soon the UBCS helicopter would come, and then it would fly her out of this nightmare. _Whump_! Dropping down the last couple rungs onto the balcony, and then running toward the door back into the tower, she heard Carlos running right behind her as the distant sound of helicopter rotors started to be heard in between the peels.

 _BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG!_


	31. Chapter 31 No Escape

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty One: No Escape**

Even though Jill was running at full speed back down the carpeted stairs of the clock tower, headed toward the front door, it felt like she was moving in slow motion the entire time like in one of those dreams where the sleeper never gets anywhere no matter how hard they try. By the time the young woman actually reached the massive double doors of the building and pushed them open, though, the large transport helicopter's rotors could clearly be heard as the aircraft was starting to come into view.

 _We're saved_ , she thought to herself, standing in the courtyard as the helicopter flew toward them from somewhere back toward the downtown district, and Carlos was all smiles when he finally caught up with her, although out of breath. He said something about never seeing a woman run that fast before, or something like that since she could barely hear him over the ringing bells and the approaching rotors, and then he hugged her, both of them nearly jumping for joy with each passing second.

"We did it, Jill!" The young man had to yell over the noise. "I told you we were gonna make it!"

"It's finally over!" Jill yelled back, shedding a couple tears. "It's over!"

The two of them hugged again just as the helicopter got close enough for the pilot to use their high-powered searchlight, casting a brilliant light on Jill and Carlos like they were in the spotlight during a stage performance, and now the young man was staring into her eyes while slowly pulling the young woman closer. _Oh hell, why not?_ Closing her eyes, the two of them kissed; arms going around each other, and Carlos lifting her just a little bit off the ground like what usually happened in the end of old disaster movies, and…

 _Thunk… fwoosh!_

Breaking the kiss as a sharp, almost whistling sound reached her ears, and then she looked up just in time to see a trail of white smoke being given off as something flew right toward the helicopter. There was no time to gasp or even blink when the young woman realized what it was, because by then the projectile slammed into the bottom of the approaching craft, and then the whole rear section of it simply vanished in a flash of light and noise that lit up the night sky like thunder at high-noon.

Now Jill just stood there, watching as the helicopter, now without the aid of its stabilizing rotors, pitched forward into a kind of sideways roll before slamming right into the neck of the giant clock of the tower. _BOOM_! Another explosion as the damaged craft went up in flames, enough to completely shatter the stone walls just beneath the clock itself, and now the young woman found her voice again… in the form of a scream as she and Carlos dove for cover.

The entire top half of the tower's neck had been turned into a hailstorm of large boulders that rained down in all directions. One of the smaller pieces struck her in the shoulder, making the young woman cry out as she fell to the ground after stumbling forward, now forced to crawl underneath the bowl of the large decorative fountain for shelter, while the young man had no choice but to run for shelter underneath the building itself, since there was no more room where she was. Fire was raining down with the stones now, causing some of the grass and hedges to ignite as burning pieces of the helicopter landed on the ground, and then it all stopped as quickly as it had begun.

Except for the cut on her shoulder, Jill was mostly unharmed, unlike the fountain that had been pulverized and deformed while shielding her, and the young woman was about to call for Carlos to see if he was okay… when the next thing she saw made her freeze in place. There was a large figure standing on top of the ruined cable car that had brought them to the clock tower, roaring with its head thrown back as if triumphant over an enemy… it was the Pursuer, clearly not as dead as the young woman had hoped… with a very _big_ , and familiar looking rocket launcher resting on its left arm.

" _Sstarss_!" It growled, easily heard now that the bells and chopper had been silenced.

Was this really happening, Jill found herself wondering? At the moment the young woman didn't know what was more frightening, the fact that the STARS hunting monster was intelligent enough to use such weapons… or the fact that it knew shooting down the helicopter would keep her from getting away. The answer to this question was _neither_ , with both options being dethroned when the monster suddenly jumped down from the cable car's roof, making the ground shake a little when it landed less than ten feet away from her.

Her paralysis broken, Jill knew that the nitrogen shells in the grenade launcher were her only chance, but first she had to both ready the weapon, and also put some distance between herself and the Pursuer. Scrambling out from under what was left of the once beautiful fountain, she had to turn her back to the monster in order to get back far enough to use the weapon, when the young woman gasped as she felt something stab her in the back. Not only was it hooked deeply into her skin, and burning as if it were red-hot, but it also pulled her backwards so hard that she was knocked off her feet a second later.

"No!" Jill screamed when she was able to see what it was. "No! Carlos! Help me!"

The knife that had stabbed her in the back turned out to not be a knife at all, but the pointed end of a long purple tentacle that had shot out from underneath the Pursuer's sleeve like a harpoon, and now it was slowly retracting… pulling her across the ground along with it. The young woman screamed in agony each time it pulled her in another couple inches, feeling like it was going to rip off her entire shoulder as she kicked and struggled to get away.

"Get away from her!" The young man's voice yelled. " _Dije que te alejes_!"

 _Ratta-tatta! Ratta-tatta!_ The monster's arm and torso twitched a little as a dozen bullets slammed into it, courtesy of Carlos's rifle as soon as he had been able to come out of hiding again. The young man had taken a position behind one of the nearby hedges, firing short controlled bursts at the Pursuer's arm and torso, most likely in an effort to hit the tentacle and free her… if only the M4 was _that_ accurate during automatic fire. The monster growled as if irritated by this attack… and then it crossed its left arm over the right one, which was still reeling in Jill, in order to aim its rocket launcher.

 _Thunk… fwoosh-BOOM!_ Thanks to it having to cross its arm over in order to keep a hold on Jill, the monster had been unable to aim its weapon properly, with the good news being that the large projectile missed Carlos completely. The bad news, however, was that the projectile struck the wall behind him, and even though it was a good distance away, the force of the blast was still enough to send the young man flying forward as a large part of the courtyard's wall simply vanished.

Carlos hit the ground face first, thankfully sliding across grass instead of the stone walkway that he had missed by less than two feet, but this distraction had also allowed the Pursuer to return its attention to Jill, who screamed again when its tentacle dragged her even closer to her inevitable doom. _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! The monster had almost seemed to be grinning at her, apparently enjoying the suffering it was causing the young woman each time she was pulled, but then it growled when Carlos started shooting it again, this time screaming as he emptied his whole magazine into its massive upper body from a sitting position.

Shrieking with even worse pain as the tentacle was ripped from her back, allowing her to fall forward onto the hard stone walkway, Jill turned her head back toward them to see that the young man and the Pursuer were now both racing to be the first to reload their weapons while she tried to crawl away. Carlos finished first, opening fire again, but once again doing short controlled bursts directly at the monster's head while it slowly took aim at him after finishing reloading the rocket launcher.

" _Sstarss_." It growled, seemingly unaffected by the bullets that were hitting its head.

Well, it _tried_ to aim at him, but most of the bullets were sparking as they impacted against the weapon, causing the Pursuer to let out a frustrated growl as it kept trying to target him. Wait a minute, Jill thought, the young man was a far better shot than that, especially when he was aiming, and then she gasped, trying to crawl away faster when she realized that the young man wasn't aiming for the monster's head… he was aiming for the _weapon_.

 _BOOM_! It was a _one in a million_ shot, with maybe even worse odds, but Carlos must have done something right, since when the rocket launcher's trigger was pulled, it was the weapon _and_ the Pursuer itself that vanished in a flash of light and noise. Jill had managed to get out of the blast radius, and it was probably because she was already flat on the ground that she wasn't sent flying like Carlos had been. When the smoke cleared, the whole area was on fire, grass and hedges all orange and smoking, while most of the wrecked cable car that had been sticking through the wall was just gone.

Was that it? Had it taken a damn _anti-aircraft missile_ to finally destroy the STARS hunting monster? So far there was no sign of it, and even though the young woman's back felt like it was on fire as she propped herself up against a large piece of stone rubble, she felt relief as well since the thing was finally gone… even _if_ it had trashed their only way out of the city. Jesus, the Pursuer made getting rid of Tyrant back at the Spencer Estate seem easy, but now that it was gone, maybe there… and then she heard it.

A low, inhuman growling sound was coming from over where the cable car used to be… no, it was more off to the side, near one of the more heavily damaged parts of the clock tower, and then she _saw_ it. With a roar that sounded almost like it was in pain, the monster's arms appeared above the fire, slowly pushing its massive body up onto its hands and knees, most of its leather overcoat burnt off and smoldering, leaving just the pants and boots as it struggled up to a kneeling position… and growled when it looked right at her.

" _Sss… sssta… sstarrs_!" It struggled to say, falling forward onto its arms and growling again.


	32. Chapter 32 Infected

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Two: Infected**

Nothing could have equaled the joy and relief that Carlos felt when the rocket launcher on the monster's arm exploded, and then it and everything around it just sort of vanished in an explosion that sent even more pieces of dirt and rubble flying in his direction. His plan in attacking the thing hadn't gone much farther than getting it to let go of Jill in order to focus on him instead, but apparently his plan to make it unable to use the rocket launcher by damaging it, had worked out even better than he hoped.

But no, just when the young man was trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his head enough to get up and go check on the young woman, the monster had reappeared, growling while trying to pick itself up off the burning ground like a demon struggling to return to the land of the living. Struggling to reload another magazine into his rifle, the young man was about to start shooting again, but then he realized that Jill's stalker didn't look so good anymore.

Not that it had ever looked _good_ to begin with, but now the burned and scarred skin of its torso was exposed, and its first attempt to stand up didn't work out too well, ending with it falling back onto its knees as if all the injuries it had received over the past day were finally catching up to it… heh, and all it took was a direct hit from a God damn anti-aircraft missile. Well, good, if it couldn't move, that just meant that the thing would be easier to hit, so he was just starting to take aim after getting to his knees, when there was a small flash of blue light.

 _Thunk-boom_! While her stalker was trying unsuccessfully to get back up, Jill had been readying her grenade launcher, and when she finally sent the small projectile toward its target, the monster roared when it exploded right in its exposed chest. However, instead of fire and smoke, there was an illuminated blast of what looked like a foggy winter mist while a large part of the monster's body was covered in ice. It broke free a few seconds later, but now there was a kind of discolored purplish blood coming out of multiple places in its body… as if the icy grenade had reopened several of its old wounds.

 _Thunk-boom_! Slamming another of the blue-capped shells into the grenade launcher, the young woman fired at the monster again, this time hitting the ground between its feet just as it was forcing itself to stand, and making it fall down again when its entire lower body was caught in the ice-producing mist of the blue explosion. Thunk-boom! Thunk-boom! Not giving her _ex-boyfriend_ even the slightest chance to recover, Carlos watched as the young woman shot the monster two more times, causing its whole body to be frozen in place, before loading one more shell… and firing this one upward.

This time when the nitrogen grenade exploded, it did so at the top of a very large piece of stone wreckage that was hanging off the second floor of the clock tower, and with a frozen _crack_ , the ice holding it to the building shattered, causing the giant piece of stone to come crashing down right on top of the monster, cutting off its attempt to roar when all other sounds were drowned out by an echoing _SLAM!_ The weapon fell out of Jill's hands as she leaned back against the wall, and now that the danger was over… Carlos keeping his rifle aimed at the rubble for a few moments just in case… the young man rushed over toward her.

Having taken a few hits himself, Carlos stumbled a bit, tripping over some rubble and having to lean on what was left of the decorative fountain to keep himself from falling… but then the pain in his head and all the fatigue was forgotten when he finally reached the young woman, and saw her current condition. Jill wasn't just leaning back against the stone rubble, she was coughing and drooling on herself; her body twitching violently while she cried out in pain.

"Jill, what's the matter?!" He exclaimed, kneeling down to hold her so she wouldn't hurt herself. "Jill, answer me!"

She wasn't able to respond, simply opening her mouth wide and screaming in agony while flailing around in his arms, but the young man's answer came when his hand went around the back of her leather jacket, and he felt what he thought at first was blood. Holding onto her tightly so that she wouldn't hit her head or anything, Carlos carefully removed her jacket, and discovered that it wasn't blood where the monster had harpooned her with its tentacle… but a foul-smelling, discolored purplish substance… that looked like it was starting to spread out from the wound.

"Oh no… oh no, Jill, no." He said, a tear running down his cheek as he held her. "Come on… come on, I gotta get you out of here."

It was a good thing that the young woman was so slender built, since with his own injuries, the young man didn't know if he could have lifted much more than her and the fallen grenade launcher while trying to stand up. But now that she was quieting down a little, as if starting to fall asleep while he carried her in his arms, Carlos couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was going to do. As much as he didn't want to admit it, that monster had infected Jill with that thing she had called the T-Virus, there was no denying it, but… but when Murphy had been infected back at the pharmacy, he had turned in a matter of _minutes_.

No… no, there had to be _something_ that he could do for her, starting by getting the young woman somewhere safe in case her stalker was still alive underneath that rubble… he hoped that the damn thing was finally dead, but it was better to get away just in case… but where could he take her? The wall around the clock tower's courtyard was collapsed or on fire, so there was no going back into the city the way they came, and the clock tower wasn't much better, so… maybe… yeah, he would have to take her somewhere else… hopefully… hopefully the back door in the storage room was still accessible… it was their only chance.

"Hold on, Jill." The young man said, heading toward the front doors that had been destroyed. "I'm gonna take care of you, all right? Just stay with me."

The inside of the clock tower was no better than the rest, with the once elaborately carved stone walls of the main hall cracked and splintered, the carpeted staircase nothing but a memory, and a fire lapping at the door to the old dining room from underneath, meaning that the whole place beyond was probably ablaze. Okay, Carlos thought, so far the door to the library seemed intact, so he headed through, discovering that although the ransacked chamber was not burning, part of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking access to the old bedroom beyond… that's okay, he wasn't going that way, anyhow.

Once through the door into the storage room, the young man stopped long enough to grab all the ammunition for his rifle and pistol that he could carry… too bad there were no more grenades for the launcher… and then he held tightly onto Jill while turning the latch of the heavy wooden back door. With a stone scraping sound, the heavy door was slowly pulled open, allowing him access to the street behind the clock tower, but before he dared to explore any further, a safe place was needed for the young woman.

There didn't seem to be any zombies skulking around for the moment, which was great, but having never been to this part of Raccoon City before, and without the long lost city map or Jill being able to guide him, Carlos had no idea where he was supposed to go. There was a small building, looking like a tiny office or something, right across the street, so he decided to start there, and the good news was that there weren't any undead creatures inside when he looked in through the windows… but the door was locked.

Great, that meant that he was going to have to find somewhere else to hide Jill while he… did whatever the hell he thought he was going to do about her being infected. Oh, hey, wait… there was that thing in her pocket that she used to pick that other lock with. The young man knew damn well that he didn't know the first thing about picking locks, but this one wasn't exactly _high security_ , so how hard could it be? Keys worked by pushing up a bunch of pins or something in a pattern as they went into the lock, so… if he could figure out the pattern, then the door would open, right?

"Sorry, _novia_ , I gotta set you down a second." He said, gently setting the young woman down, and removing the tool from her pocket. "Just don't laugh too hard when I try to do this, okay?"

She wasn't responding, now lying still while breathing shallowly as if sleeping when he crouched down in front of the door that was made of metal and glass like an uptown shop, and Carlos took a deep breath before starting to use the tool. The individual pieces were kind of flimsy, so he figured that if there was resistance he was doing something wrong… man, Jill had made it look so easy when she just _popped_ those other locks open before in no time at all, and they were a lot more complicated than this one… hey, something _clicked_ inside the lock.

The door didn't open though, but the young man figured that he must have been on the right track, so he kept at it, spending a lot more time than he wanted to admit, before nearly crying out for joy when the lock finally opened. He didn't, though, needing to keep his voice down in case there were any zombies nearby, but at least he was finally able to pick the young woman back up, and take her into what looked like… hey, this looked like some kind of _security station_ more than an office, especially when he saw the black letters on the door window that read:

 _RACCOON CITY PARKS AND RECREATION_

 _CENTRAL PARK MANAGER'S OFFICE_

Pretty nice setup for a park manager, the young man thought as he set Jill down on the leather couch that was underneath the windows. Besides the sofa, there was a large table with information pamphlets and paperwork spread out across, a series of deactivated security monitors along the back wall, a mini-fridge underneath the desk… not to mention a microwave oven, and a small television over in the corner that had a _Sony PlayStation_ hooked up to it… man the _Americanos_ were spoiled sometimes, even in the workplace.

Locking the door from the inside and pulling down the blinds on all the windows, the only thing that the young man could think to do was make Jill as comfortable as possible, but… hey, he could see the illuminated sign for the hospital right down the street… too bad there wasn't anything in the pharmacy there that could be used to help the young woman in her current condition…

" _We will be evacuating civilians from downtown district_." Mikhail said as they flew over the city. " _Bravo unit will be securing extraction point at clock tower, while Charlie unit retrieves some kind of groundbreaking vaccine from hospital_."

Was it possible… was there a snowball's chance in hell that the _groundbreaking vaccine_ the Captain had mentioned during their mission briefing was… was a cure for the T-Virus? It didn't seem possible, kind of ridiculous actually, not to mention dangerous to explore such a place, but… as he looked at Jill over there, looking pale and sweating profusely as she slept on that couch… Carlos knew that he was about to try anyway.


	33. Chapter 33 The Hospital

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Three: The Hospital**

The one and only good thing about what was happening was that Jill was finally able to get some sleep, Carlos thought as he looked both ways down the street after leaving the office where he had left her, trying to be positive. But what was there to be positive about, really? Aside from the young woman lasting a whole lot longer already than Murphy had when he was bitten back at the pharmacy, Jill getting infected by that monster was the worst thing that could have possibly happened, and although he wasn't fond of admitting this… Carlos was scared.

Only a few hours ago he had met this amazing woman who was beautiful, intelligent, brave, good in a fight… and now after everything the two of them had managed to survive to get this far, it was a _microscopic virus_ that was threatening to take her away. This T-Virus, as Jill called it, was not something that could be treated by normal means, and now the only hope of saving her rested in something Mikhail had said back in the helicopter before the mission started, and honestly… the young man was not sure that he heard it correctly.

Getting into a crouched position in the shadows by the office door where the streetlights didn't reveal him, Carlos looked both ways down the largely unobstructed street, relieved to find that there were no zombies or other monsters around, before moving on. Maybe all the monsters had been drawn toward the noise and light around the other side of the clock tower, since the fire could still be seen and heard even though the battle with Jill's stalker was over… whatever the case, the route over to the hospital was clear, so the young man stood up and ran toward the illuminated red cross in the distance.

The gray and white four story building towered over everything else around it except for the clock tower… well, even that now that the clock part had been destroyed, and with all of the air conditioning ducts and compressors that he could see outside, the door that he was approaching must have been the back entrance. Of course it was… had to be since there was no parking lot, nor any reserved spaces along the road for ambulances to pull up for bringing in critical patients. There was just a set of glass double doors with a white light over it for illumination, a sign that said the hospital's normal hours… like _that_ mattered anymore… and a strong smell of death that made him take a step back after pushing the door open.

" _Dios bueno_." He said having to hold his nose. "Que demonios es eso?"

Carlos had been right about this being the hospital's rear entrance, with the glass doors opening up into a small lobby with white walls and a tile floor, illuminated by over a dozen small single blub fixtures that were probably supposed to induce calm with their dim light. It was a pretty typical setup for a hospital; rows of uncomfortable looking seats for the patients, a couple vending machines against the wall in the back with an _out of order_ sign on one of them, and a small television on a wall mount, displaying the rainbow colored _Emergency Broadcast System_ logo… for an audience of the dead.

More than a dozen people, all infected by the looks of their skin and eyes, lie motionless on the floor or across the rows of seats, with countless bullet holes peppering the walls behind them, and several more UBCS soldiers scattered among them. Like his own team, these guys must have been ambushed immediately upon arrival… and overwhelmed just like all the others. There was something else there, too… some kind of… _creature_ lying there on the floor, and it certainly didn't look human.

It was dead; its large, gorilla-like body riddled with bullet holes, while the discolored green substance pooled around its body was clearly the source of the overpowering smell of the room. Good thing it wasn't alive, too, since the thing had some _nasty_ looking claws at the end of its powerful arms and legs, their effectiveness shown by the deep slashes through some of the nearby bodies and even across the walls. The teeth visible in its partially open jaw were not quite as bad as the claws, although still large and sharp, and it looked like the creature's whole body was… skinned?

Zombies, giant insects, Jill's stalker, and _now_ a kind of skinned gorilla with claws? What the fuck was going on in Raccoon City, the young man wondered as he took cover behind one of the rows of chairs in order to look down the corridor that went further into the hospital. Even though the unit there had been wiped out, it looked like they managed to secure the first floor, but this didn't help him find the _groundbreaking vaccine_ that Mikhail had mentioned. After all, it wasn't like there was going to be a sign on the directory board that said _experimental vaccine this way_ , now was there?

Drawing on what he knew about hospital layouts in general, Carlos knew that the first floor was mostly for admissions and surgery, which didn't leave much room for secret projects with so many civilians wandering around. Personally, if he was going to keep something stored inside of a hospital that no one was supposed to find, there were two places that the young man would have considered using. The very top floor of any hospital was normally used for the most violent patients or for those in quarantine so that it was harder for them to escape… but there were also the basement levels where only the hospital staff were allowed to go.

Both places seemed like ideal hiding places for secure items, like vaccines for example, but Jill got closer to succumbing to the viral infection with every second that passed by, so a decision had to be made. As this was a public place, the elevator was real easy to find, right on the other side of the vending machines, and thankfully there were no zombies inside when the doors opened, but that didn't mean he hadn't kept his rifle aimed just in case. Once inside, the doors closed quietly, leaving Carlos with a selection of four floors, three not including the one he was already on, and a single basement level… so which one?

"Basement… fourth floor." He said to himself, looking back and forth at the buttons. "Basement… fourth floor… way up high… underground."

After remembering what happened with all those giant insects the last time he went underground, the young man was suddenly a bit more eager to go upward, so he pushed the button marked 4F without another thought. The button lit up, and a moment later the elevator started moving, going past the second floor… the third floor… and finally coming to a stop on the fourth. _Ding_ … it was at the moment that the bell rang that Carlos realized just how cornered he was if there was, say, a whole herd of zombies waiting for him when the doors opened, for example, so he raised his rifle, aiming at the center of the doors as they slid open to reveal… nothing.

This place was even quieter and more sterile looking that the waiting room had been, white walls and floor without bullet holes or bodies, just a corridor with big fluorescent lights that ran both left and right from the elevator. Wait, there _was_ a body hidden around the corner where the young man hadn't been able to see it until he actually stepped out… it was another of his UBCS comrades, collapsed on the floor like the ones downstairs, but… he didn't look infected… and the only damage to his body was the small hole right between his eyes… like he had been shot.

Except for the poor bastard in the clock tower's chapel who had taken his own life, this was the first soldier's body that Carlos had seen with a bullet wound, who _hadn't_ been infected by the T-Virus. This wound was too big to have been self-inflicted, since the man's hands were still on his rifle, which used 5.56 mm rounds, while the hole between his eyes was much bigger… looking more like a 9mm pistol round, if he had to guess.

It was disturbing to think that this soldier had been shot without being infected, but regardless of why it had been done, there was nothing the young man could do for him… not while Jill was still down in the office fighting against the T-Virus. Like with all hospitals, there was a directory sign on the wall right in front of the elevator so that people could see it as they stepped out onto the floor, and it showed… a bunch of patient rooms… a surgical wing… and a place that was marked as _DATA ROOM_.

What was a data room, exactly, he wondered? Was it like a patient records library, or maybe a treatment log center? This _data room_ sounded like a good place to start, so the young man followed the sign, taking the corridor to the right, and trying not to make a sound while walking across the overly cleaned floor. Another body was waiting for him around the next corner, UBCS with rifle in hand, dead from a single gunshot wound like the first one, leading Carlos to a grave conclusion.

So far the only monster that he had seen use a weapon was Jill's stalker, and that thing's hands were way too big for conventional firearms, meaning that a human had come through this way, very recently by how fresh the blood was that was dripping from their wounds, and shot these men for… well, that part didn't make any sense at all, now did it? Why on Earth would someone trapped in a city full of undead monsters want to kill people who weren't infected? Especially armed _ones_ who could have helped protect each other?

 _Bang! Bang!_ Carlos froze as the unmistakable sound of a pistol being fired reached his ears, echoing through the corridor, and shattering the sterile silence of the hospital. A scream was heard along with the shots… wait, no there were two voices, a deeper one that sounded like it was in a lot of pain, and the other having to belong to a woman… a woman who was frightened. Neither of these voices sounded like someone who would have been firing a weapon at the time, so what was going on?

Of course, the shots and screams came from the direction that the young man was headed, so he picked up the pace, keeping crouched down and moving quietly all the way to where the hallway ended at a door labeled Data Room, and there were voices coming from inside, but… they were too quiet to be understood, even with his ear up against the wooden surface. Two voices, a gruff male with a harsh voice, and a scared woman… no sign of the one who had cried out in pain… forcing Carlos to very carefully turn the knob, and even more slowly open the door.

"Why are you doing this?" The woman's shaky voice asked as he crept inside. "We're all in this together, what could you _possibly_ gain by…

 _Whack_! At first the young man thought the owner of the other voice had smacked the unseen woman when he heard the sound, but realized that it was more of a hard thump with something solid… like a pistol going across her face, followed by a _crash_ when she fell over something like a table, causing a bunch of glass to shatter on the floor, before she yelped after being hit again.

"We are in _nothing_ together, you _bitch_." A _painfully_ familiar voice said in a thick Russian accent. "Give me _all_ data _now_ , and maybe I let you die with _dignity_ intact."

Aside from Mikhail, Carlos only knew one other Russian who talked like that, and the Captain was dead, so… was it possible that Jill had been wrong when they were leaving in the cable car… could that voice really belong to… _Nikolai_?


	34. Chapter 34 Data Room Reunion

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Four: Data Room Reunion**

"I can't just _give_ you the data, _none_ of us can." The female voice said as Carlos crept further into the room. "Our orders said that you, me, and _all_ the other Supervisors had to report in _together_ once the tests are complete."

The Data Room of the hospital's fourth floor was exactly as the young man expected it to be; sterile white walls and unpolished tile floor that was covered with scratch marks, while the majority of the large open room was dominated by several rows of shelves like the kind that would be found at a library, only with file folders and recording cassettes filling the shelves instead of books. Each row was significantly taller than the young man, but there was enough space between the folders and the bottom of the next shelf to let him see through all to the other side of the room… where Nikolai's face could be clearly seen.

"Yes, the Supervisors who _survive_ until then." The Lieutenant replied, grabbing her by the hair hard enough to make her cry out. "I have already dealt with _one_ brunette with bad attitude today… so be good girl, da? Give me data you collected for Umbrella and I kill you _quick_ , or… I beat you senseless, and take you like _Saint Petersburg_ street walker, before shooting you in stomach and letting you bleed out."

Nikolai looked pretty good for a dead man, especially since according to Jill, he had been attacked by her stalker, but… that monster didn't seem like the type to take prisoners, so how had he survived. When he pulled the woman forward by her hair, Carlos had been able to see that she was a doctor, or at least she looked like one; white lab coat, glasses, and not bad looking, either, even though these days the young man was starting to prefer women with shorter hair compared to the doctor's longer style.

"I ask you one more time, sweetheart." The Lieutenant warned, pressing the barrel of his pistol up into her jaw. "If you do not hand over data by time I finish speaking, then I start to pretend your name is Jill, and things get ugly for you. Fine, I prove it."

 _Bang_! Lowering the pistol and pulling its trigger, the doctor gasped when the bullet slammed right into her leg, losing her balance and then crying out in agony when red blood started to drip out onto her pant leg. Nikolai was still holding her hair, meaning that she didn't fall right away… at least not until he re-aimed the pistol and shot her in the shoulder, before letting go of her hair and bringing the weapon across her face with a loud _whack_.

Carlos couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing, since he knew that their mission had been to rescue civilians, not… pistol-whip some poor _doctora_. The lenses shattered as the glasses flew from her face, with a spray of blood flying from the woman's mouth as she fell onto the desk next to them on her back, and she tried to sit up again, only to cry out again when the Lieutenant pressed the still hot barrel of the weapon up under her jaw once again… advising her _not to move_ , while he started undoing her belt.

"Nikolai, stop!" The young man found himself yelling. "What the hell are you doing?! Get off her!"

He had done this without really thinking it through first, the only thoughts surging through Carlos's mind being images of the injuries Jill had sustained after crawling back to the cable car, specifically the fact that her belt had been undone… and the next thing the young man knew, he was coming around the corner with rifle aimed at his Lieutenant. From the young woman's unwillingness to talk about what had happened, and the way he saw Nikolai brutalizing this doctor… well, shit, what was he going to do now that the element of surprise was lost.

"Olivera?" The Lieutenant asked, not moving his pistol away from her. "Hard to believe you manage to survive this long… where is Mikhail… and your girlfriend?"

"All right, look, I don't know what's going on here, okay?" Carlos replied, keeping the rifle aimed right at him. "So just… just take your pistol out of her neck, and we can all talk about this, right? Nobody has to get hurt."

Nikolai was motionless for several seconds, giving the young man hope that everyone was going to get out of this alive, but then the Lieutenant simply said something that sounded like _nyet_ , before pulling the trigger. _Bang! Bang!_ When the first shot went off, making the doctor's whole body jump when the bullet tore out through the top of her head, the young man was so stunned by this that he wasn't able to move until the second shot was fired… right at his face.

There was a flash of pain when he felt the bullet lightly graze his cheek, but it also broke his paralysis, allowing Carlos to take cover behind the rows of storage shelves before Nikolai could shoot any more. Once the line of sight between them was broken, the young man got ready to fight back, aiming his rifle through the opening between the folders and the next shelf, but then becoming even more nervous when he couldn't find a target. Only an instant before, the Lieutenant had been right there in front of him, but now he was just gone… probably hiding behind the storage racks as well.

Part of him couldn't believe that Nikolai had just… he had just _executed_ that woman in, like, the coldest way possible, and that if the Lieutenant's aim had been just a tiny bit over to the left… better not to think about that. Okay, Carlos, he thought while looking around for any sign of movement, stay calm… the woman's dead, the vaccine's clearly not in this room, and Nikolai is a psychopath who has a couple decades more experience with this shit that you do… yeah, it was definitely time to go.

Keeping his aim toward the last place that he had seen the Lieutenant, the young man started backing up toward the door, the tension building as he reached the end of the row without incident… only to feel his stomach drop when he suddenly felt something metal touching against the back of his head, forcing him to stop. He didn't have to turn around to know that it was the barrel of Nikolai's pistol that he was feeling, and this it was verified when the Lieutenant used his free hand to take both Carlos's rifle _and_ his pistol, tossing them well out of reach.

"Very sloppy, Olivera." Nikolai said, laughing a little. "A good soldier always watches area around himself… now start walking."

With no choice but to do as he said, the young man kept his hands where they could be seen, as he moved back down the row of patient records, back toward the open area where the woman doctor had been killed… and then Carlos finally discovered the owner of the third voice that he had heard through the door, when he saw another UBCS soldier slumped on the floor right next to them... bullet wounds in his chest like all the others. Once at the wall, the young man was ordered to put his hands there with legs apart so that he could be searched.

"So, what brings you to hospital, Olivera?" Nikolai asked while searching him. "You look well, for man all alone in Raccoon City."

"Jill and Mikhail are dead." He replied, wanting to make sure that the Lieutenant didn't go after her even if he didn't make it, himself. "When I got to the clock tower, the team from here hadn't reported back, so… I came to retrieve the vaccine… for the reward."

This cover story was kind of weak, but it was all that the young man could think of at the time, but it seemed to fit with how Nikolai had said that he and the other, uh… _Supervisors_ were supposed to gather together or something. He expected at any moment to feel a sharp pain as a bullet went into his back, but instead of shooting him, the Lieutenant started to laugh, even patting him on the shoulder.

"So, you are company man after all, Olivera." He commented, still laughing a little. "Vaccine is stored in basement lab, but trust me, is best not to go… _very_ dangerous, da? Would advise you, instead, simply claim reward for Jill Valentine's death… boy your age could do _much_ with quarter of a million American dollars, I think."

Wait a second, Carlos thought, there was _a quarter of a million dollar_ price on Jill's head?! Who the hell did she piss off? Someone at Umbrella, probably, which would have explained why that monster had been sent after STARS members. Nikolai then added that perhaps he had spoken too soon about the reward, not that the young man was going to be alive long enough to claim it, but not to worry, because the Lieutenant was going to claim it for himself… a little _retirement bonus_.

"Okay, so what brings _you_ to the hospital, Nikolai?" Carlos asked, figuring he was going to die anyway. "You look pretty good for someone who got attacked by Jill's stalker."

"I _do_ , don't I?" Nikolai asked, laughing again. "There I was, about to make pretty Jill my _bitch_ , when ugly step-brother of _Frankenstein_ kicks down door and tosses me out third story window… landed on Buick with _worst_ sounding alarm in world. But as for why I'm here… I am one of dozen Supervisors for this operation, soon to be _only_ Supervisor when last loose ends are tied up… and that's all you need to know… goodbye, Olivera."

 _Click_... the sudden metallic sound reached their ears at the same time, and once Carlos realized that it wasn't the sound of Nikolai's weapon clicking empty, the two of them both looked down to see that the UBCS man slumped on the floor was moving. He wasn't a zombie, though… after all, an infected person could have never groaned a series of colorful curses at the Lieutenant's mother, before taking a grenade off his vest… and pulling the pin. Letting go of him and fleeing for his life as the spoon flew off the explosive, starting the countdown, Nikolai took the nearest avenue of escape, which was to dive right through the closed window with a loud _crash_ … probably not the best idea since they were on the fourth floor.

As for the young man, he turned around and ran back down the aisle of storage shelves while the Lieutenant's startled scream could be heard getting fainter as he fell, and then Carlos dove for cover after sprinting a few steps just as the grenade went off. _BOOM_! Like what had happened with the cable car, everything shook as the room was lit up by a powerful flash of light and noise, shattering the remaining windows, shredding the nearby walls, and making a mountain of file folders and patient records rain down on top of the young man while he remained ducked down in a fetal position, waiting for his ears to stop ringing.


	35. Chapter 35 Hunters

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Five: Hunters**

For a moment after the explosion, Carlos had thought that he had been hit by the shrapnel as he dove for cover behind the aisles of stacked patient records, but then he realized that it had just been a heavy book-end that had landed on his back when all of the nearby shelves collapsed. When the young man finally started moving again, digging his way out from underneath the scattered papers and folders like an earthworm trying to get to the surface to escape the rain, he saw that it was much darker now, as only one of the room's many fluorescent lights was still working.

Most of the storage racks had collapsed, while the walls were left cracked and blackened from the shrapnel that exploded outward from the wounded UBCS man in all directions. All that was left of him was a bloody mess that was splattered across the walls and floor, with the doctor's body now riddled with such wounds as well… not that she would have been able to survive Nikolai shooting her in the head like that… but what about Nikolai, himself?

All of the windows in the data room had been shattered, including the one that the Lieutenant had so desperately jumped out of, but when the young man looked outside, down toward the direction that he would have fallen… there was a tall flagpole just beneath the ledge, as well as several very thick hedges below… but with the limited illumination that came from the remaining streetlights, he couldn't see where Nikolai had landed. Oh well, no matter… the man was backstabbing _puto_ who killed his own people and… who had tried to hurt Jill in the same way as that poor _doctora_.

Wherever the Lieutenant had landed, Carlos hoped that it was painful and that zombies were eating his brain at that very moment… but he had wasted enough time on that carbon, and at least now he knew that the vaccine Jill so desperately needed was downstairs in the basement. Thanks to Nikolai, it had been confirmed that Mikhail's _groundbreaking vaccine_ was actually a cure for the T-Virus, so as soon as he was able to stand up, the young man collected his dropped weapons, and headed back for the elevator.

And what the hell was all that talk about being a Supervisor and tying up loose ends, he wondered while pushing the button to open the door? It almost sounded like the Lieutenant and a few others were on some private mission from the company, but to do what? The young man was still wondering about this when the elevator doors opened, but then he knew that it was much more important to remain focused on the task at hand once the car started moving down toward B1, especially after what Nikolai had said about it being _very dangerous_ down there.

"Come on, Carlos, you got this, man." He said to himself, aiming the rifle just as the indicator light changed to the hospital's only basement level. "Jill needs you, and after you save her, you're gonna run off to some tropical island where they _don't_ have zombies."

 _Ding_ , the bell went off just as the elevator doors opened, and while nothing jumped out at him right away, the young man saw that unlike the fourth floor, there was no light at all in this corridor, not even emergency lighting. The light inside the elevator car illuminated a small area of the concrete floor and walls, but that was gone as soon as he stepped out and the doors closed behind him, forcing Carlos to click on the flashlight that was mounted on his rifle as he looked both ways down the hallway.

The small light was good enough for him to see everything in the direction that it was pointed, just as it had been in the downtown sewers, but aside from using it to read the directory sign which said that an area marked _LABORATORY_ was to the left, the young man knew that his ears were even more important to use in such a darkened place, especially after what had happened with those giant insects. Holding his breath, and straining his ears to listen, Carlos heard nothing but the soft movement of air as it was pumped out of the building's air conditioning vents.

A light switch was nearby on the wall, so he flipped it, but sighed when nothing happened, so he crouched down, and tried to make as little noise as possible while moving down the darkened corridor… not that the _extremely bright light_ didn't immediately give his position away. There were several branching corridors that went off into the darkness, but figuring that a laboratory was the most likely place for an experimental vaccine to be stored, he simply followed each directory sign, while stopping at each corner to take a look down its connecting passage.

For the first several connecting hallways, there was nothing to be seen; no bodies, no zombies, no nothing, but this all changed in the amount of time that it took Carlos to step around the next corner. If he had not been aiming the flashlight, the young man certainly would have been killed by the creature's large claws when he nearly walked right into it, but instead it hissed at him while shielding its eyes with its big arms, stepping back as if having been just as surprised by the encounter as he was.

 _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! Startled enough to stumble backwards into the wall and sink to the floor, Carlos pulled the trigger of his rifle, causing the creature to hiss and growl, now using its arms to shield itself from the bullets that were now tearing into its discolored red and green flesh. Sparks flew each time that a bullet bounced off one of its claws, instead damaging bits of concrete when they ricocheted into the walls, but most of them struck home, releasing a small spray of incredibly foul-smelling blood with each wound… but the creature wasn't going down.

 _Click_ … the young man's mouth ran dry when his weapon ran out of bullets, allowing the heavily wounded creature to lower its arms, before opening its large mouth and letting out a high pitch shriek as if it were about to attack. Instead of attacking, though, the creature simply fell on its face, no longer moving as the awful smell from its blood permeated the corridor, and now Carlos understood why there had been so many mangled bodies around the one that he had seen in the first floor lobby… my God, it took an _entire_ magazine to kill one of them.

The 5.56 mm bullets for the M4 were not exactly magnum rounds, but there were _thirty_ of them in each reload, so… so what was the young man supposed to do if there were more of them down there? Thankfully, he had been able to grab a whole bunch of extra magazines from that crate inside the clock tower storage room, one of which he quickly inserted into the rifle while watching for any more of those creatures… but so far nothing else was coming out of the shadows to attack him.

Regardless of whether or not any of those… clawed _things_ were lurking down in the basement, Carlos still had to get that vaccine, so he scrambled to his feet, and started moving toward the laboratory at a much faster pace. Breathing heavily, and still stopping to check down each branching corridor, but for not as long as he went past, the young man finally reached the door that was marked Laboratory, having to shut his eyes for a second upon entering, since the lights in this place were still on.

Blinking several times to get used to the light, Carlos bumped into a table, nearly causing a series of glass beakers to fall onto the tile floor, if he hadn't caught them with his free hand at the last second. There were several tables in this room, as well as storage lockers and shelves like there had been up in the data room, although the young man didn't know what most of the machines or other pieces of equipment sitting on them were used for… but he _did_ know that he was not alone in there.

Someone was crouched down at the end of the storage racks, a dark-skinned man in a UBCS uniform, who looked like he was trying to catch his breath while clutching his rifle tightly… and a really sturdy looking metal transport case was lying at his feet. The man struggled to reload his rifle, motioning urgently for Carlos to be quiet and get down as if there was some kind of imminent threat in the…

Suddenly there was a flash of movement as something behind the man leapt into the air with surprising grace and agility for its size, flying right toward him like a leaping frog… and neatly severing the man's head with those nasty looking claws. Everything seemed to slow down as the man's head flew off in one direction, and a lengthy spray of blood shot out of his severed neck while the green and red creature continued forward until landing just as gracefully… and then without even a moment's hesitation, the monster turned heel and leapt right toward Carlos.

There was no time to react, and if not for losing his balance and falling backwards after tripping over a table leg, the young man might have very well met the same fate as him comrade, instead feeling the air move as a very large claw passed only inches from his eyes. Landing just as gracefully on top of the table and turning around to make another attack, the clawed monster raised its arm for the kill, but hissed in surprise when the table it had landed on wasn't quite as stable as it thought.

Falling forward onto the ground while a whole bunch of glass shattered when the table tipped over backwards, the creature was quick to recover, jumping up to its feet, and swinging its claws, but Carlos had been using this time as well, getting his rifle ready, and opening fire. _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! The creature's long claws sunk deeply into the concrete wall next to his head just as the young man pulled the trigger, sending dozens of bullets right into its torso, since this time the monster couldn't get out of the way… until it shrieked after using its free arm to chop off its own hand, that is.

Unfortunately for the monster, this effort came just a little too late, and it only got as far as bringing its arm back for another slash, when it just kept leaning backwards until falling onto the floor. God, the smell from its blood was so unbearable that Carlos thought he was going to lose his lunch as he scrambled away from the creature's body, and ending up over toward where his comrade had been killed. Stealing the ammunition from the dead was becoming a normal practice by this point, and a necessary one since it took so many bullets to kill one of those things… and then there was the secured metal case.

There didn't appear to be any more of those creatures inside the room, so the young man opened the case, which was heavily padded on the inside to protect a vial of a strangely purple colored substance. There was no label with it, just the vial itself and a set of syringes, so… was this the cure? That would have been _awesome_ if it was, but there was no way to know for sure, since there was only enough liquid in the vial for one dose… and Jill was running out of time, so… should he try searching more to make sure, or take this right to her and hope for the best?


	36. Chapter 36 Countdown

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Six: Countdown**

Regardless of whether or not Carlos was carrying the real T-Virus vaccine in the secured metal case, the burden of needing to get it back to Jill was making the trip back down the darkened basement corridors feel like it was taking three times as long, even though the young man was moving at a much faster pace. It felt like one of those dreams where the sleeping person tries to run as fast as they can, but doesn't actually get anywhere, and it was even worse knowing that there could be more of those clawed creatures around.

Nothing so far, though, with the anticipation of running into another of them causing Carlos to breathe rapidly, thick beads of sweat forming on his forehead with every corner that he checked around with the rifle's flashlight. At least with as dark as it was in the subterranean hallways, he might be able to momentarily blind one again like with the first one he encountered, but on the other hand it had taken an entire magazine to kill even one of them, so if he _did_ encounter another of them, and there was _more_ than one…

The directory signs led him back toward the elevator, but the young man must have traveled all the way to the far side of the hospital, because there were so many twists and turns along the hallways that… wait, what was that? A tiny flicker of light was up ahead in the darkness, and Carlos's heart started to beat even faster when he realized that it was the elevator's floor indicator light… he had made it! But there was something else, too, this time a sound… like the shriek of one of those clawed creatures… from behind.

 _Tick-tick-tick_ … the sound of the monster's clawed feet tapping heavily across the concrete floor as it ran toward him made the young man get ready to start shooting again, but then he heard it… the sound of a second creature's footsteps joining the first one… and then another. There was no way he could have taken on even two of those monsters at the same time, let alone _three_ , so Carlos sprinted toward the dim indicator lights of the elevator, pressing the button, and then aiming his flash light back down the hall to see that the three clawed creatures were rapidly gaining on him.

 _Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat!_ Firing his rifle down the hall toward them in short, controlled bursts while the elevator doors slowly opened, this attack was not meant to kill the creatures, but to simply keep them back long enough for him to squeeze through the opening doors, and then rapidly press the button to close them again once he was inside the car. The monsters hissed and shrieked, shielding themselves with their big arms until the young man ran into the elevator, and then they leapt forward, landing gracefully right in front of the closing doors… just in time for them to close.

"Go, go, go!" Carlos exclaimed, hitting the 1F button more than a dozen times before the elevator started to move. " _Si rapido, rapido_!"

And good thing it started moving, too, because the clawed creatures could still be heard shrieking, denting the doors slightly inward with their claws until the elevator moved out of reach, finally allowing the young man to catch his breath, lowering his rifle while leaning on the back wall. There was only the distance of one floor between B1 and 1F, so only a short time passed before the bell went _ding_ before the doors slid open once again, returning Carlos to the main lobby.

 _Beep-beep-beep_ , a new sound reached his ears as he stepped out of the car, but at first the young man couldn't tell where it was coming from, looking around at the reception desk, vending machines, and mangled bodies strewn over the rows of waiting chairs. _Beep-beep-beep_ , the sound was definitely electronic, high pitched but not loud like an alarm, and the strangest part was that it seemed to be coming from all around. Then he saw it, a small white device that was attached to one of the room's support pillars, while a flashing red light coincided with each beep.

"What the hell?" Carlos whispered, walking up to the device and taking a closer look. "Oh, _mierda_."

It consisted of a large block of a white, malleable substance, and from that a set of wires connected it to the part that was beeping… while a digital timer was counting down from just less than a minute. Any idiot could have seen that it was a bomb, but the young man wasn't worried, since plastic explosive like this was easy to diffuse, simply by removing the blasting cap from the block. However, he was reaching back to get his knife, when he gasped upon seeing _another_ device on the opposite wall… and _another_ back behind the reception desk…

 _Beep-beep-beep_ , oh God, they were _everywhere_ , Carlos realized when he looked around at the dozens of identical devices placed around the first floor of the hospital… and the timers were probably identical as well, so he ran for it. Shouldering open the back doors of the hospital, and running back out onto the street, he ran away from the building as fast as he could the whole area was suddenly illuminated as brightly as if the run was already rising.

 _BOOM_! The noise and shockwave of the explosion caught up to him an instant later, lifting him off his feet and throwing the young man forward while windows shattered and walls crumbled behind him. Like when the helicopter crashed into the clock tower, bits of glass and stone debris rained down around him while Carlos crawled for cover behind an abandoned car, getting into a fetal position to protect the secured metal case from as much of the falling rubble that he could while the whole building collapsed one floor at a time… and then it was over.

Just like the clock tower, the hospital was only a shadow of its former self when he finally crawled out from behind the car, seeing nothing but fire and wreckage where the four story building had once stood. While he laid there, catching his breath, the young man realized what would have happened to him if he had stayed to keep searching the basement instead of leaving when he did, but… but where had the explosives come from? They hadn't been there when he walked in, that was for sure.

Nikolai? It was kind of ridiculous to that that the Lieutenant had not only survived _another_ fall from a high building, while also having the time and resources to rig the whole first floor up to explode, but… there weren't a lot of other people around to pin the blame on, and zombies didn't exactly have those kind of motor skills. Maybe Jill's stalker did, but that thing was dead for sure this time, so it had to be Nikolai… there was no other explanation.

Groaning with pain and soreness as he dragged himself out from behind the abandoned, and now heavily damaged vehicle, Carlos looked over at the small building where he had left Jill… it was only a short distance from where he was, but after everything that happened… it seemed so far away. It took a lot more effort than it should have to sling the rifle over his shoulder, and then pick up the secured metal case before beginning the walk, and even though there were now some zombies shambling around, they seemed much more interested in the burning wreckage of the hospital than they were in him… or maybe they just hadn't seen him yet… either way was fine.

He stumbled back toward that small security office while the undead monsters made their way toward where the hospital used to be, and then the young man pushed open the door, making sure to lock it behind him, before turning to where he had left Jill. She was still there on the couch, but sweating enough to soak the whole thing, while gasping and crying out in pain while squirming around like she was under attack by an unseen force. Pulling down the blinds over the windows and door like he probably should have done beforehand to make sure they weren't discovered, he set the case down on the table next to the couch, and opened it to prepare the syringe.

Jill was speaking too, saying names of people that Carlos didn't recognize, and sometimes even yelling half-sentences that made no sense, but she was probably just delirious from being infected, meaning that he needed to give her the shot as soon as possible. It was easy enough to fill the syringe, but the young woman was squirming around so violently that he couldn't get one of the veins in her arm... he was going to have to restrain her.

" _Novia_ , I am _so_ sorry about this." He said, setting the syringe down for a second. "Now, this might hurt a little, but it's the only way."

Grabbing her by the shoulders, and then quickly flipping her over onto her stomach, the young woman started flailing around and screaming like she thought he was attacking her… but all he could do was keep apologizing while he straddled her lower back to keep her pinned down. Jill was crying now, gasping for breath while screaming for someone named _Chris_ to help her, while the young man twisted her arms behind her back… man, she was _strong_ , but at least her wrists were small enough to hold in place with one of his hands while grabbing the syringe with the other.

Without her leather jacket on, the young man could see that the blackness from where the monster harpooned her was spreading throughout her entire back, so… well, if this purple stuff was really the vaccine, and he really, really hoped it was… Carlos couldn't think of a better place to inject it than right into the original wound. Jill's screams got even louder after the purple substance was injected, forcing him to push her head down into the couch's pillow just enough to muffle her, since such noises could attract unwanted attention from the zombies outside… but after about a minute or so she started to quiet down.

Yeah, Jill was no longer thrashing around or crying, in fact her whole body was starting to relax now, prompting the young man to get off her, and very carefully roll the young woman onto her back so that she would be more comfortable, and now she certainly looked it… not making a sound aside for the way she very slowly breathed in and out. So, had the purple stuff been the cure? Was Jill getting better? There was no way to know just yet, so all Carlos could do was give her a kiss on the forehead and then hold her hand while waiting to see whether or not she was going to survive.


	37. Chapter 37 October 1st Night

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Seven: October 1st Night**

For the longest time there was nothing but strange, vivid dreams, mostly of events from the past, while at the same time there was an intense feeling of heat… intense, burning heat that kept Jill's mind from concentrating on what was happening around her, any more than as a casual viewer. Every breath felt like her lungs were going to burst into flames, and before her eyes was a highlight reel of important events, beginning with the arrest of her father, Dick Valentine, after getting caught trying to rob a bank.

The next thing that she saw was her slightly younger self joining the US Army in order to avoid ending up with a lengthy sentence in the Arklay County Jail like her father got, since up until that point she had idolized her father, eagerly learning how to pick locks from him, as well as the majority of her other _less than legal_ skills. More heat now, making the young woman feel like she was burning alive while seeing visions of her undercover assignments as a Rookie in the RPD, as well as her eventual appointment to STARS.

Suddenly the heat faded away, replaced with a God awful pain that was ripping through her entire body, becoming so unbearable that she found herself screaming for help… but the phantoms of the past did nothing for her as she witnessed the very worst of all the events that happened at the Spencer Estate. Jill couldn't help crying as she had to watch her friends die all over again, and then… and then it all slowly faded away… the visions… the pain… all of it until there was only darkness… darkness, and the sound of falling rain.

Struggling to open her eyes at first, and then having to blink several times to make her surroundings come into focus, the young woman quickly realized that she was no longer inside the clock tower… no, that building had been destroyed… so this was somewhere else. Her memory was a little foggy, but she could recall something about leaning heavily on Carlos while they walked through the mostly destroyed historical building, but then nothing else until waking up to find herself lying on a couch in what looked like some kind of security office, with her leather jacket laid over herself like a blanket, and in the air the scent of… someone cooking _Spam_?

Yes, it definitely smelled like someone was cooking cheap processed meat, so she struggled to sit up, her whole body feeling sore and sluggish like she had just gone on a twenty mile run like back in the Army. Having to blink again to see clearly, Jill was surprised to see Carlos sitting at the large desk that was nearby, using one hand to flip fully cooked pieces of Spam off of an electric griddle onto a waiting stack of paper plates, while using the other hand to hold up the copy of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ so that he could read it.

"Uncle Vernon is pretty damn stupid." The young man said to himself, shaking his head at what he was reading. "If my _sobrino_ could do fucking _magic_ , I'd be like _'hey vato, how 'bout you whip us up a new car and then make your auntie look like she did when she was eighteen, eh?'_ what do you think, Jill? What… _oh, mi Dios, Jill_!"

Dropping the book and nearly knocking over the place of Spam as he stumbled his way over to her, the first thing Carlos did was make the young woman cough when he hugged her so tightly that she couldn't breathe. Once his grip on her was released, the young man knelt down in front of her while holding her hands and asking all the usual questions about whether or not she was all right, and it was nice for once to be able to say that she was feeling a lot better than before.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" The young man exclaimed, hugging her again before standing up. "You must be starving; here, let me get you something."

Then he began to give her the update on their situation, beginning with the fact that _two days_ had passed, with the sun going down only a few minutes before she woke up. Apparently the young woman had been infected by the T-Virus during their last battle with the Pursuer, and after carrying her over to the security office for Raccoon City Park, the young man had gone to the hospital in search of the cure, which he had found after nearly getting his head sliced off by something that sounded like those big creatures that she had seen at the Spencer Estate.

So what was the good news about all this? Her T-Virus infection had been cured, there had been no sign of the STARS hunting monster since their last battle in the clock tower courtyard, and somehow she had managed to sleep for two whole days without shitting herself… actually, her stomach felt really, really empty as if all the nutrients had been ripped out of her system. According to Carlos, after receiving the vaccine, Jill had become still, and didn't move a muscle for the entire time except to breathe. No eye movement, no snoring, no changing position… hell, apparently she didn't even _fart_ for the whole time.

Hearing all of this good news was actually starting to make the young woman feel hopeful about their situation, but then this stopped when he got to the part with the bad news. For starters, that helicopter that crashed into the clock tower was the only way that he knew to get out of Raccoon City, and to make things even worse, it turns out that Nikolai was still alive. The young man told her everything that had happened inside the hospital, and up until that point she had believed that the Lieutenant was just another money-hungry rapist, but now… now it sounded like he was part of some larger conspiracy with Umbrella… if it was _possible_ for a larger one than Raccoon City to exist.

"Okay, we're out of options." Jill said as they ate the Spam he had cooked, along with some _Coca Cola_ from the mini-fridge. "We need to get out of this city, and you're not going to like this, but we're going to have to do it on _foot_."

As expected, the young man was not exactly thrilled at the idea of trying to get out of Raccoon City without some kind of transport, but honestly it was either that or just keep wandering around until they magically found another way out. There were some city maps along with the other information pamphlets kept inside the security office, so the young woman got one of them, and unfolded it on the couch between where they were sitting together.

"So, we're right here." She explained, pointing to where the hospital used to be. "So, if we cut through Raccoon City Park, and pass through the north cemetery, we can use the footbridge here to cross the Circular River, which will get us to the old water treatment plant. From there we just go around the facility to where Ivy Street passes by on the other side, and then just keep walking all the way to Stone Ville."

It wasn't much of a plan, but then again, neither were any of the others that she had been going along with over the past few days. Thankfully, for the past several months most of the park had been closed down because of construction and renovations, and the old water treatment plant hadn't been used since 1995. This, combined with the fact that no one new had been buried in the north cemetery in the past ten years, in favor of the new one to the east, all meant that there would have been hardly any people there before the outbreak… and no _people_ meant no _zombies_.

Unfortunately, even if the two of them managed to get out of Raccoon City itself by using this route, it didn't mean that they were safe. Once they reached Ivy Street at the other side of the water treatment plant, there were still several miles of steep inclines and heavily forested terrain before reaching the smaller town of Stone Ville, and from personal experience the young woman knew that the forests outside the city were by no means safer than the streets. There was also no way of knowing how far the outbreak had spread, and… oh God, what if it had gotten all the way to Stone Ville by now?

"I'd rather have to deal with a small village of zombies, than stay in this city." Carlos replied, setting the map and their plates on the nearby desk once they were finished. "Besides, we got plenty of ammo now, and now that you're back in action, there's nothing that can stop the two of us… I hate to admit it, but I got pretty scared going around that _loco_ hospital all by myself. I'd do it again though, and I _promise_ you, _novia_ , that I won't let _anything_ like that happen to you ever again."

Jill had always been tough and independent, not exactly the type to ever be considered a _damsel in distress_ , but it felt so good to know that the young man had risked everything to find a way to save her when she was helpless, even after finding out that Umbrella was offering a quarter of a million dollars for her head. He could have killed her for it, or simply let the T-Virus run its course and claimed that there was nothing he could do… but he hadn't, and Jill felt so safe when he scooted closer to her on the couch and hugged her again.

She returned the hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek, followed by their hold on each other tightening when he gave her one on the lips, again which the young woman returned… and then Jill found herself straddling him while he roughly grabbed her hair to pull the young woman's head back while he kissed her neck. Just like back at the clock tower where they had shared their first kiss while waiting for the helicopter, Jill found herself wondering _oh hell, why not?_ Carlos was a great guy who saved her life, he was _really_ good looking, and although she wouldn't have admitted this until right now, his accent had been driving her _crazy_.

Plus, after everything the two of them had been through over the past few days, maybe it was time for a short break from the nightmare that Raccoon City had become. Yes, their lives were still in danger, and they needed to get out of the city as fast as possible, but it was kind of hard for Jill to think about that, or anything else for that matter while Carlos was picking her up with his big muscular arms, and then pinning her down onto the couch so that he was on top of her.

Yeah… Raccoon City could wait a little while…


	38. Chapter 38 Raccoon City Park

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Eight: Raccoon City Park**

The rain was coming down a little harder than it had sounded like from inside the security office, and combined with the cold wind of steadily dropping temperatures, caused Carlos to shiver a little as he and Jill left the relative safety of the building. America was so much colder than where he was from, and although Honduras was a shit-hole, at least there were no zombies running around eating people in the streets. Yeah, this was going to be his last trip to the United States for a long time, the young man thought as they rounded the corner of the building, heading toward the park.

Regardless of how bad things were in Raccoon City, he had honestly not wanted to leave the security office, since the last two days had actually felt like a much needed break while waiting for the young woman to recover from the T-Virus. Carlos had been worried sick the whole time that she wouldn't recover, but it had been nice to just be able to sit down and relax for a while; eating junk food and reading almost half of that book about the wizard kid… and then things had gotten even _better_ after Jill woke up.

Of course, after what was probably the best sex of his life, neither one of them had been in any condition to make the journey toward the old water treatment plant, so they had taken a nap together on the couch, and it was just about midnight by the time that they actually got moving again. _Screech_ , using a key that was hanging up on the wall of the office, the padlocked metal gate, which had a _closed for construction_ sign on it just like the young woman said, the long metal gate that had the words _RACCOON CITY PARK_ above it, slowly opened, revealing what looked like a whole different area of the world.

Beginning only a few dozen meters from what had probably been a pretty busy street, and illuminated by metal fixtures that looked like smaller versions of really old fashioned streetlights, the park kind of reminded him of the courtyard behind City Hall, with its green grass and carefully trimmed hedges. There were a lot more trees, though, big tall oaks that would have blocked out the moonlight, even if there hadn't been a thick cloud cover. The leaves were changing color and starting to fall off, which was expected since it was October now, but they still blocked a large portion of the falling rain… at least most of the time.

A small canal ran through the center of the park, with stone bridges crossing it every now and then, while metal benches and decorative statues could be seen along most of the concrete pathways, many of which were blocked off with construction fences. Thankfully, Jill said that the cemetery was in the other direction, which was great since Carlos didn't really want to climb over a bunch of construction equipment, but… hey, at least there didn't seem to be any zombies around.

"I'm just glad the lights are still working." The young woman commented as they crossed over one of the small stone bridges. "Come on, the cemetery's this way."

"Yeah, because a _graveyard_ is the best place to be during a _zombie outbreak_." He grumbled, constantly looking around for movement. "Whatever you do, don't step on the graves, okay?"

Jill scoffed a little at this advice, and then began to explain to him that a graveyard was probably one of the _safest_ places to be, since even _if_ the T-Virus managed to leak down into the bodies' coffins, how were they supposed to dig themselves out of six feet of compacted soil? They would be trapped, since as far as she knew, zombies didn't have super strength, and with there being no people hanging around in the cemetery, then the infected population had no reason to go there.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this stuff." Carlos commented after she was done. "Don't tell me you figured all that out during the _one night_ you spent at that mansion you told me about?"

"Not at all; I used to spend a lot of time with my partner's kid sister, before she went off to college." She explained, looking around before starting down another path. "All she had was him, so I figured she could use some _girly_ time now and then, but all Claire ever wanted to do was watch monster movies and spray graffiti on public buildings… so we watched _a lot_ of monster movies."

 _Snap_ , something moved from off to the side, causing the two of them to freeze in place, looking around for the source while also listening for any more twigs breaking. It seemed like nature had turned against them, at least in this once instance, since the wind was making it hard to listen, while the rain and darkness didn't do much for them being able to see any approaching threats. These miniature lamp posts didn't put out nearly as much light as the streetlights downtown, leaving most of the park in darkness, except for the walkways themselves… he didn't want to give away their position, but there didn't seem to be any choice but to turn on their rifle's flashlights.

"Carlos, over there!" The young woman exclaimed, aiming her beam at a large oak tree. "Something just went behind it!"

Turning toward the tree in question, the young man added his light beam to hers, trying to keep both sides of the large tree covered so that if there _was_ a zombie or some other kind of monster hidden behind it, the thing wouldn't be able to leave cover and sneak up on them without being spotted, itself. However, Carlos was just starting to think that he could see a figure crouched down behind it, when he gasped after feeling the unmistakable metal of a gun barrel being pressed into the back of his neck. Quickly his eyes turned to Jill… but she was already putting up her hands after experiencing the same thing.

"Don't _fucking_ move." A stern voice whispered as the weapon's hammer was pulled back. "If you wanna stay alive, you're gonna very slowly take your hands off those rifles, and put them on your heads, interlocking your fingers."

At the moment there wasn't much choice but to obey this person, since the young man couldn't risk anything happening to Jill, so the two of them did as they were told, allowing their weapons to hang on their shoulders by the slings, and putting their hands on their heads just as two more people came out of hiding… one of which had been what he _thought_ was a zombie behind the oak tree. The ones who had their pistols pointed at their heads were wearing UBCS uniforms, while the others were wearing street clothes just like any citizen of Raccoon City… and _all_ of them were armed.

"I don't recall the park being on any unit's mission venue." The one behind Carlos said, pressing the barrel in harder. "So you better have a damn good reason for not being with the rest of your team… unless you're a _deserter_ … the company doesn't like _that_ at all."

"Hey, wait a second, I know this one." One of the civilians interrupted, walking up to Jill. "This is that chick Dario and the others kicked out of the warehouse back uptown a few days ago; claimed she was going to the police station to use the radio to send help back for us. What happened, sweetheart, did you take a wrong turn?"

"No, she didn't." The young man spoke up, using the only idea that he could think of, even though it was ridiculous. "She left those assholes to die on purpose and… and we came here because we're Supervisors, and, uh… orders are that we're all supposed to report in together... right?"

Drawing upon what he had heard being said between that lady doctor and Nikolai before he executed her in the hospital, Carlos hoped that these people were Supervisors as well, even though it was a longshot. Jill seemed to understand, quickly agreeing that she had left everyone in the warehouse to die because Umbrella's data was the most important thing, and then after a few moments of silence… the armed men lowered their weapons.

"Don't feel bad, sweetheart, I ditched those idiots, too after a while." The civilian laughed as everyone started to relax. "It wasn't even a _day_ before the food was gone, so I recorded everything I needed from them, and then opened the rollup door while they were all asleep. The zombies came in, I went out, and the rest is history."

"No one cares about the small stuff." The other UBCS man said, causing them to quiet down. "Are any of the others with you? I mean… are we really the only ones who made it? Just the seven of us?"

Strange, Carlos thought as he looked around while they were all muttering to each other, including himself and Jill, there were only six people standing there on that pathway… well, maybe they had a man staying back to watch their basecamp, or maybe manning the radio or something. The point was, that even though the young woman was visibly saddened by the news of what happened to the people she had left back uptown in that warehouse, the four Supervisors had accepted that they were part of the group, and even allowed them to put their hands down, but... what were they going to do now?

"Well, if this is it, then this is it." The first UBCS man decided, taking one more look down the path to see if anyone was coming. "Come on, we've refitted the cemetery's maintenance shed as a temporary basecamp… radio check-in time is in in… ten minutes."

The young man was nervous now… a lot more nervous than he had been before, since these _Umbrella Supervisors_ had a tendency to be, well… less than noble… but at least it was safer to travel in a group of six, instead of just him and Jill going it alone. Hell, if they were lucky, the Supervisors would have their own way out of the city, and if the only contact with headquarters was by radio, then there was no way for any of them to know that he and the young woman were fakes.

Everyone kept their weapons up and ready as they headed down the trail that led to the graveyard, with each of the Supervisors looking out in a different direction while at the same time laughing about what they each intended to do with their bonuses. Yeah, as long as he and Jill could play it cool, and pass themselves off as company douchebags for long enough, maybe these guys were their ticket out of Raccoon City for good this time.


	39. Chapter 39 Operation Terminated

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Thirty Nine: Operation Terminated**

Finding this group of Umbrella Supervisors, as they had been referred to, was a stroke of luck, but as she and Carlos traveled down the stone pathway toward the gates of the city's old graveyard, Jill found herself wanting to simply gun down the lot of them. If the fact that they were directly involved in the company's wrong doings hadn't been bad enough, the young woman had only just barely managed to restrain herself from attacking them, especially when the one she had seen at the warehouse back uptown talked about how he had so casually set up the other survivors to die.

Unfortunately these people, no matter how horrible they all were, couldn't arrange for a ride out of Raccoon City if they were all dead, so for now there was no choice but to go along with the young man's strategy of pretending that the two of them were Supervisors, too. The rain continued to fall steadily while the temperature dropped, causing her to shiver a little as the path took a downward slope, and now as the long, barred metal gate of the cemetery got closer, Jill could see why there hadn't been any monsters or infected people near the park's front gate… it was because they were all _right there_.

Zombies, those giant insects that she had seen in the tunnels back downtown, and even one or two larger things that looked like the beasts that Carlos had described encountering inside the hospital, there were _dozens_ of Umbrella's monsters lying motionless on both sides of the pathway just in front of the heavy gate. All of them had fallen facing toward the graveyard, some on the grass far away, and some hanging over the brick wall, as if the Supervisors had met up and then been forced to defend their temporary basecamp… oh, there were a couple human bodies as well.

"It's just through here." One of the UBCS men said, unlocking the gate's padlock before pushing it open. "Hopefully this time we'll get the evacuation order… God, this place makes me sick; can you _believe_ that people used to live in a _toilet_ like this?"

Raccoon City wasn't a _toilet_ , Jill thought, having to bite her lip to keep from shooting him. It was the home of over a hundred thousand people, including all of the smaller surrounding villages in the forest and up in the mountains. It was a place where parents raised their children, where innocent civilians went to work every day, most of them for the very company that cursed them with the T-Virus… but all these _scumbags_ saw was a testing ground for abominations created for war… and somehow they were going to pay… _all_ of them, Supervisors and Umbrella alike.

Once through the gate, the UBCS man closed it and put the padlock back on, verbally hoping that it would be the last time he had to pass through, and now the caretaker's maintenance shed could just barely be seen through the rain and darkness. There were lights in the cemetery, tall fixtures that were even older fashioned looking than the ones in the park, looking more like old hanging lanterns than modern fixtures, and spaced much farther apart. This left enough illumination for the young woman to see the outlines of the various tombs and headstones that were lined up across the property, but not much else except for the shed, which had light coming through the windows.

Of course, the _shed_ , it turns out, was more like a full size cabin when they got close enough to see in in detail, and the large awning over the front door was a welcome sight, especially when it blocked the rain from falling on Jill's head while the front man used a key to open the lock. _Squeak_ , the door hinges made only the tiniest sound, allowing the group to enter the cabin without incident, and once it was shut and locked again behind them, the young woman found herself inside of a place that looked almost like someone's house.

It was all a single, open concept, aside from a single closed door at the end which she assumed was a bathroom, with fully furnished, albeit from the 70's by the style, living room, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom all visible from where they were standing… sort of like a really rustic studio apartment. Each section of the place was lit up by a single-bulb fixture that hung from the ceiling, giving off illumination that was dim, but clear enough to see all of the cabin's features, including a crackling fire in the old fireplace… and a very complicated looking radio set complete with operator's chair setup in the corner by the kitchen.

All in all, the cabin looked untouched by the outbreak, although clearly lived in for a while, probably by the Supervisors… wait, no, there was the body of a man, slumped over the table backwards with the handle of a knife sticking out his eye. Probably the graveyard's caretaker, but… well, maybe it was the dim light, but from where Jill was standing, he didn't really look infected. Not that she would have put murder past any of them, but then her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing, and a few moments later the young woman had to hide herself behind one of the taller men when the bathroom door opened up to reveal none other than _Nikolai_.

Thankfully, the Lieutenant didn't even look at the group of Supervisors standing by the front door, instead simply checking his watch, and then walking over to the communications equipment. She glanced over at Carlos, who had also hidden himself in the shadows, but the young man looked just as unsure of what to do as she was, but then they both paid attention after hearing the heavy _click_ of the radio being activated. Nikolai looked at a sheet of paper on a nearby clipboard, before tuning into the correct frequency, and then increasing the volume so that the cabin was filled with the sound of static for several moments before a test signal started to come through.

" _Attention all Supervisors, Code Black Transmission_." A sharp voice crackled through, sounding like he was reading a script. " _Repeat, all Supervisors, Code Black Transmission. Effective immediately, Operation Mad Jackal is terminated, repeat, Operation Mad Jackal is terminated. Contingency Plan Bacillus Terminate has been authorized, and will commence at dawn. Proceed immediately to designated extraction points, this message will repeat every five minutes_."

Jill didn't understand what _Operation Mad Jackal_ or _Contingency Plan Bacillus Terminate_ were, but the mention of them was enough to send the Supervisors into an uproar, with all of them talking over each other and a few getting downright hostile as they approached the communication set where Nikolai was no longer sitting down. So far the Lieutenant hadn't seemed to notice either of them toward the back, and the young woman took this as a sign to sneak away while they had the chance, so she nodded toward the door, and Carlos quietly followed.

"They can't be serious!" One of the civilians exclaimed. "How can something like _Bacillus Terminate_ be authorized?! They can't… they can't just _nuke_ a whole city!"

Jill's hand was on the doorknob when she heard that statement, and the shock made her freeze in place as she tried to figure out whether or not Umbrella would go _that far_ to cover their own tracks. But, that couldn't be possible, could it? Umbrella was rich and worldwide and all that, but how in the hell did the company manage to get their hands on a _nuclear weapon_? For a second this realization made her relax a bit… until the young woman remembered that just a few months ago she hadn't believed in zombies or Bio-Organic Weapons, either until…

 _Bang! Bang!_ Her thoughts were brought to a screeching halt when the sound of pistol fire reached her ears, the first shot from Nikolai firing into the air to quiet down the others… and the second one hitting the door right next to her head. Next the Lieutenant yelled something in Russian, and although Jill didn't speak the language, she was able to get the just of it when she heard the clicks of the other Supervisors getting their weapons ready. Carlos already had his hands up when she finally turned around, putting hers up as well, and wishing to God that she hadn't stayed to hear the rest of that message… since everyone had their weapons pointed at the two of them now.

"And I was told you were dead." Nikolai continued, laughing a little. "My friends, let me introduce Jill Valentine of RPD STARS unit… now, put your weapons on table, please… _slowly_ , and then get on your knees."

"He's lying; this isn't Jill Valentine, she got killed by that _thing_ at the clock tower." Carlos spoke up. "I saw Nikolai at the hospital; he was killing Supervisors so he'd get all the money, and then he blew up the place to cover his tracks. He's probably planning on killing _you guys_ , too."

There was doubt in some of the other Supervisors' eyes now, since the group probably didn't trust the Lieutenant any more than she did, but it wasn't enough to stop them from aiming their weapons, or repeating the previous order. So the two of them were forced to put everything they could defend themselves with down, before kneeling on the floor, while at the same time one of the other Supervisors picked up the same clipboard that had the radio frequencies on it. Flipping to some of the back pages, he brought it over to the young woman, holding it up next to her face… so that he could compare it with the _very clear_ photograph on Jill Valentine's RPD personnel file.

"Okay, we know who the _girl_ is now." He said, looking over at Carlos. "But no Supervisor would allow her to live, especially since the reward on her pretty little head just _doubled_ yesterday morning… so who the fuck are _you_ , boy? And how did you even _know_ about us?"

"The boy is nobody." Nikolai scoffed. "Just common criminal who killed Supervisor at press building, and took his equipment so he could…

"That's a lie!" Jill exclaimed, interrupting him. "You flat out _admitted_ to me that _you_ killed your man at the press building, and that you…

 _Whack_! Now it was the young woman's turn to be interrupted when the Supervisor standing next to her suddenly struck her in the side of the head with the stock of his rifle, making her cry out as she fell to the floor. Carlos tried to jump up to defend her, but found his arms being restrained by two of the others, while that same Supervisor slammed the stock of his rifle into the young man's stomach. _Whump! Whump! Whump!_ Three more times Carlos was struck like this, and then the Supervisors forced his arms behind his back so that they could tie him up… before pushing him to the floor and kicking him in the ribs hard enough to make him cough and cry out.

"Might as well _gag_ him too." The Lieutenant ordered just as they finished tying his ankles together. "But leave him there… I want him to have _good_ view for what happens to his _girlfriend_ … bring that _bitch_ here."


	40. Chapter 40 Gravedigger

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty: Gravedigger**

Carlos wanted to yell at them to get their damn hands off of Jill while two of the Supervisors dragged her over toward Nikolai, but this turned out to be quite impossible once the others shoved a dirty rag into his mouth. Tying his wrists and ankles, and then kicking him in the stomach since there was nothing the young man could do to stop them, Carlos could only cough into the rag while yelling some muffled and unintelligible words into his gag.

"Nikolai, we don't have time for this." One of the ones in civilian clothes said as the young woman was brought forward. "If they are seriously going to nuke the city at dawn, then we need to get out of here because sunrise is… well, it isn't long from now."

"He's right, we need to head for the treatment plant right away." One of the UBCS men added. "Let's just shoot the girl, and then we can split the reward money after we report back."

"I _know_ we need to leave." Nikolai snapped, before grabbing Jill by the hair and pulling her head roughly to the side. "But we can spare a few minutes to pay back little brat who humiliated me, and then left me in wrecked mini-van to die. Why so quiet, Jill? Not so smart-mouthed now without big _monster_ to save you?"

 _Whack_! Suddenly the Lieutenant slugged her in the stomach, making the young woman cough and start to fall down, but the two Supervisors holding her arms forced her to keep standing while Nikolai hit her again… and again… and again. As painful as this was to see and hear, Carlos was trying to keep his calm, focusing on freeing his wrists from the ropes, instead of flipping out each time that Jill let out a _yelp_ after being punched in the face. Their weapons had been left on the table, right next to where the young man was restrained on the floor… and with everyone's attention on what was happening over there… he was unguarded.

" _Special Tactics and Rescue Service_." Nikolai said, scoffing as he walked away from her long enough to walk over to a small table, and rip the cord out of an old rotary telephone. "Your team of _cowards_ and frail little _girls_ was wiped out even faster than UBCS, and…

Not waiting for him to finish talking, Jill suddenly brought both her legs up and kicked the Lieutenant in the chest as hard as she could, giving him a turn to cry out when he tripped over the small table, and fell on his rear in front of everybody. Some of the Supervisors laughed, while others still insisted that it was time to forget all about this and just leave… all of which would have given Carlos plenty of time to free himself, if the floor of the cabin wasn't vibrating so much that it was hard to feel the ropes with his fingers.

There wasn't any time to worry about vibrations in the floor, even if they felt like they were getting more intense all the time… of course, that could have just been the young man's anxiety, since Nikolai was on his feet again, this time wrapping the phone cord around Jill's throat and then pulling it as tight as he could. She didn't stand a chance, not with the others holding her arms, so Carlos hooked his thumb around one of the ropes, and no matter how painful it was, he pulled and pulled until being able to slip the bonds.

 _Rat-a-tat_! Scrambling to his feet and grabbing his rifle off the table, he aimed at the crowd and fired a burst of three rounds right into the back of one of the UBCS Supervisors. Honestly, he had wanted to aim for Nikolai, but the Lieutenant was too close to Jill for him to risk shooting… although this was not the case for the one who was farthest from her. It took the others a second to realize what had happened, seeming only then to notice how harshly the cabin was shaking, although these vibrations were secondary to the weapon being pointed at them.

" _Quita tus manos de mi novia_!" Carlos yelled, nearly losing his balance for a second as the shaking intensified. "All you _putos_ get your damn hands up… Jill, get over here, we gotta go!"

The young woman was finally able to breathe again when Nikolai was forced to release her in order to put his hands up, allowing Jill to pull her leg back and slam her foot into his groin as hard as she could. The Lieutenant groaned in surprise and agony as he slumped against the nearby wall, and once the young woman moved away from the group of Supervisors and started grabbing her weapons, there was nothing left to stop Carlos from just gunning them down right there. The cabin was shaking so violently now that it was hard to aim his rifle, but he did his best to set his sights on Nikolai… when everything seemed to just _explode_ upward from the ground.

Floorboards, furniture, everything was lost in a cloud of dust and rubble as something _big_ tore its way through the small building from underneath, separating the two of them from the panicked Supervisors as everything started to collapse. Thankfully, while Umbrella's lackeys were thrown into the worst of it, Carlos and Jill had been pushed closer to the door, allowing them to crawl out the destroyed entranceway just as the remains of the floor were collapsing out from under them.

Unfortunately, even though they had managed to get back outside, the graveyard's light fixtures and tombstones were now shaking just as badly as the cabin had been… and then he saw it. Something was moving underneath the ground itself, allowing the cabin and everything else that fell into its path to collapse into a newly formed tunnel… and then it broke the surface as if trying to better survey the world around it, even though the monster had no eyes. What it _had_ was a long tube-like body, big around as a train and just as long, and when it opened its mouth to produce an echoing roar, its jaws split into four separate segments, each with rows of huge, horrible teeth.

 _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! One of the Supervisors in civilian clothes had managed to crawl back up out of the tunnel, and immediately started shooting at the tunneling beast, causing it to roar again as the small bullets tore into its discolored brown flesh. However, this appeared to be nothing more than an annoyance to the monster, as it turned its head toward the man, and lunged at him with jaws open wide. The Supervisor screamed, but it was cut off as the beast continued to tunnel onward, leaving nothing of its latest victim behind while it now began to circle, seemingly at random, through the cemetery.

"No!" Jill whispered urgently, grabbing Carlos's weapon when he started to aim it the next time the beast surfaced. "It's blind; it can't find us if we're quiet!"

It was true, the young man realized once he saw that the tunneling monster was now moving throughout the area, passing under each row of graves so that they each collapsed one at a time, and there was a slight pause that came with each one… the ground simply rumbling for a second before the beast moved on, as if it were tunneling underneath the graves in order to feed on the rotting corpses underneath. If so, then it must have been drawn to the sound that all of them had been making inside the cabin, so maybe if they were quiet, then the damn thing would just move on… right?

So far there was no sign of Nikolai or the other Supervisors, and there was nothing else inside of the graveyard that was moving, so the tunneling monster continued on its course of going through the graveyard row by row, causing the formation of long pits like what had happened in the downtown district when the area around the pharmacy had collapsed. However, when it had finally reached the end of the available graves and fed upon everything inside the old coffins below, instead of continuing on its way, the monster broke the surface once again, this time moving its head around in a slow circle as if looking for something.

Carlos started to say something, but Jill quickly put her finger to her lips, before pointing to the far side of the graveyard, opposite of the way they had come in from the park. That was the way to the old water treatment plant, where the two of them had originally planned to go in order to escape from Raccoon City, but the young man also remembered hearing one of the Supervisors mention that they were headed to that same place for evacuation. So long as they were quiet, this was probably the best opportunity to escape from the tunneling beast, and if the city really was going to be blown up at dawn, then the Supervisors' way out was their only hope.

The rain had just about stopped now, and the clouds had thinned out enough so that the full moon's light could at least partially illuminate the landscape. This helped as the two of them got up and carefully crept their way toward the far end of the cemetery, being careful not to fall into any of the recently collapsed pits or cause any unnecessary noises that might distract the monster. Past the remains of the cabin now, and still moving at a slow but steady pace, the young man was just beginning to relax as they put more distance between themselves and the monster… but then it happened.

A sound, a groan of pain and disorientation reached his ears just as the gate to the next path came into view, and when Carlos turned around, he saw one of the other Supervisors slowly dragging himself out of the collapsed wreckage of the small building. Both he and Jill tried to warn the wounded, disoriented man to keep quiet, but he just didn't seem to understand… until gasping loudly when he also turned around to see that the tunneling monster's head was now pointed right at him. Please be quiet, the young man thought, please, oh please be quiet, but then his heart sank when the Supervisor not only screamed in fear, but then also raised his rifle.

 _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! Because of his wounds, the man's aim was horrific, with most of his shots missing the creature completely, not that it mattered. Upon detecting the noise, the tunneling beast roared, its four jaws opening as it tore another collapsing pit through the ground, heading right for the still firing Supervisor… and Jill and Carlos who were right behind him. With no other options left, the two of them took off running, hearing the scream of the man get cut off as he was overtaken by the monster, and then hearing it roar again, getting closer and closer as the two of them sprinted with all their might.

Even without looking back, the young man knew that the monster was gaining on them, but then at the last possible second Jill grabbed onto Carlos and pulled him off to the side, clamping her hand over his mouth as they both fell onto a really soft pile of leaves and hedge clipping that had probably been raked up by the graveyard's caretaker before the outbreak started. Next there was a rush of wind and a really foul smell as the gigantic worm-like creature's body passed less than three feet from where they had landed, creating another collapsed pit… but continuing on as if it still thought it was chasing them.

And better still, it was heading _away_ from the way they needed to go. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, the two of them scrambled to their feet, and then very quietly passed through the small metal gate that was already open, heading down the start of a narrow, partially overgrown path that took them away from the cemetery while the tunneling monster continued on its useless path of destruction in search of them.


	41. Chapter 41 The Hunt Resumes

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty One: The Hunt Resumes**

Even though the tunneling monster had gone off in the completely opposite direction and not stopped even after leaving the cemetery, Jill kept moving slowly after passing through the smaller open gate that was behind the cabin, er… where the cabin _used_ to be. Walking on her tip-toes, with Carlos doing the same just a short distance behind her, the two of them would have had to slow down anyway since unlike the other pathways near the park, this one was heavily neglected in the areas of maintenance.

Grass and shrubs were not cut back from the pathway, nor was there pavement for them to walk on, only dirt and thick roots from nearby oak trees that crisscrossed the narrow open area like a bed of frozen snakes. There were also no light fixtures, well there were, they were just not operational, leaving the full moon's pale silvery light as the only illumination now that the rain had finally stopped. Everything was still wet and slippery though, with the young woman nearly tripping over roots or starting to slide a couple of times as they continued down the slope toward the old water treatment plant.

Part of her brain still couldn't process the possibility of the whole city being nuked at dawn, or if such a thing was even possible… not that Umbrella was ever bound by what people thought was possible or not… but still, even though Raccoon City was overrun with the T-Virus, probably beyond hope… it was so hard to imagine all of it just being... gone. Whether it was possible or not, the only thing Jill knew was that they had to get out of there as soon as possible… and it was a good thing that she and Carlos hadn't spent any more time in that security office, like they both wanted to… a nuclear blast was _not_ something she wanted to wake up to, after all.

After following the dimly illuminated path for what felt like a long time, the young woman started to hear the sound of moving water, meaning that the Circular River was just ahead, with the treatment plant just on the other side. Regardless of if the Supervisors had a way out of the city from there directly, or if she and Carlos were going to have to stick with their original plan of using Ivy Street to escape on foot, there was still one obstacle between them and the edge of the city itself.

That obstacle was an old bridge; consisting of a metal frame and wooden planks, just wide enough for two people to cross at the same time, it was set right at the end of the path, just after a really small clearing that had at one time been a smoking area for treatment plant employees, the bridge crossed a wide canyon where the river flowed far below, with the old treatment plant sitting just on the other side. This bridge was the only obstacle, because all they had to do after that was run around the outside of the plant, and then keep running down the road into the forest, since this was the boundary of Raccoon City.

 _Rat-a-tat_! Suddenly a flash of light and noise, making the young woman freeze in place as three bullets were sent flying toward her from the tiny clearing up ahead. In the flash from the rifle's muzzle, Jill could see that the shooter was sitting on the ground, leaning against a section of old chain-link fence that had been partially absorbed into the forest, which was probably why his aim was so bad that one bullet struck the ground near her feet, and the others were sent flying randomly into the trees.

"Don't come any closer!" The shooter warned, clicking on his rifle's flashlight. "That was just a warning!"

She knew that it was the last remaining Umbrella Supervisor who had been with Nikolai, even without being able to see him because of the powerful light beam in her eyes… even though his hands were so shaky that the beam only stayed in one place for a couple seconds. There was also a lot of pain in his voice, pain and fear as if only now becoming aware of how dangerous things were in the city. The man's breathing was rapid, but also shallow and labored as if… as if he had been shot.

"Don't even think about… aiming those weapons!" The Supervisor continued, trying to pull himself up to his feet by grabbing the fence, but failing. "Nikolai… Nikolai shot me, but I'm not… I'm not gonna lay here and… and die while he gets… away! Now walk… walk over here _slowly_!"

The young woman doubted that this guy could have hit the broad side of a barn at ten paces, but that didn't mean that she was looking for any more trouble than she had already gone through in the past few days. From the way the Supervisor was clutching his stomach with his free hand, it appeared that this was where the Lieutenant had shot him, but while it would have been really easy to simply kill him and move on, Jill needed him in order to figure out how the Supervisors, er… well, just Nikolai now, had been planning to escape.

"I'm not gonna let him… get away, oh no!" The man continued, his aim getting even shakier. "Now, we're gonna go to the… to the plant together, one of you is… is gonna help me walk… the other is gonna… other is gonna watch our backs! Help me kill him and… and I'll take you with me!"

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

Clutching his wound, the Supervisor was rambling on about a helicopter hidden at the old water treatment plant, but Jill wasn't really listening, since a familiar sound now reached her ears… a sound that made her stomach turn into a knot. She and Carlos had just reached the wounded man, who it turns out was bleeding even more intensely than Mikhail before the cable car, when the young woman heard the sound of slow, heavy footsteps approaching from behind. Part of her didn't even want to turn around to look, wanting to believe that it wasn't possible, but no matter how much Jill denied what was happening, the footsteps were getting closer, and now the others were noticing as well.

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

"Jill… Jill!" Carlos exclaimed, urgently shaking her by the shoulder, fear and panic in his voice as he looked back the way he came. " _Dios ayundanos, no se puede matar eso_!"

No, no, no! The young woman's mind screamed, now trying to fight back tears as the walls of her denial came crashing down when she heard an all too familiar growl when the footsteps got even closer… causing her to finally turn around just as the wounded Supervisor aimed his rifle's flashlight back up the path from the direction that she and Carlos had come from down the overgrown path.

" _Sstarss_." That awful, deep and inhuman voice growled as the light beam shined clearly onto the approaching Pursuer.

There was no escaping the fact that regardless of how many times the monster had been shot, blown up with rockets and grenades, hit with a truck, and crushed by giant rubble, the thing _just kept coming_ … as if it really _was_ invincible… Wesker's dream of the _ultimate biological weapon_ finally realized. But something was different this time… most of the monster's clothes had been burned away, leaving only its pants and heavy boots, showing that its scarred and mutated flesh was even more hideous and deformed than before, and maybe it was a trick of the light, but the Pursuer itself seemed… bigger?

"What the… what the fuck _is_ that?!" The wounded Supervisor yelled as it got closer, groaning as more blood spewed out from his abdomen. "Get away from me! Get away!"

Not only was the Pursuer slightly more physically imposing now for… whatever reason had caused it, but now it seemed to have grown _more_ long purple tentacles like the ones that had been hidden underneath the sleeves of its black coat, and the half a dozen appendages were sticking out its back and shoulders in addition to its arms. Like snakes sticking up from underneath the ground, all of its tentacles twitched and waved back and forth through the air, but then Jill's paralysis was broken when the small clearing was illuminated by the muzzle flash of gunfire.

 _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! The wounded Supervisor screamed as he started shooting at the monster, most of his shots missing, but hitting its massive body enough to make the thing mad. Now roaring and throwing its head back, the Pursuer charged down the remainder of the path, heading right for the wounded man with such speed and ferocity that Jill and Carlos barely had time to dive out of the way before it overtook them.

Ripping the rifle out of the Supervisor's hands, and angrily tossing the weapon away so that it flew over the bridge and down into the river canyon, the monster backhanded the wounded man so hard that a few teeth were spit onto the ground when he fell onto his stomach, and then the Pursuer shot out the tentacle from its left arm so that it tightly wrapped around the man's waist. The young woman fumbled to get her grenade launcher off her back while the screaming man was lifted up off the ground, but by the time she was able to load another grenade shell into the chamber, the monster had already swung him around like he weighed nothing… taking the Supervisor all the way up into the air, and then bringing him back down hard.

Both she and Carlos had to look away for a second when the wounded man's head was completely busted open on a large rock, but then there was no more time to be squeamish as the Pursuer discarded the body by flinging it into the forest… before turning its attention back to them. Having already started backing up, Jill and the young man were almost halfway across the bridge by the time that the monster made it start to shake with its heavy footsteps, only to stop when she aimed the grenade launcher at it, as if it remembered what the weapon could do.

 _Fwoosh-boom_! The good news here was that the young woman had finally managed to get a shot off, but unfortunately her hands were so shaky from encountering this thing again, that the grenade struck the wooden planks of the bridge several feet in front of the Pursuer, leaving it unharmed while the bridge itself was engulfed in the blue, freezing mist that exploded outward in all directions.

When the mist cleared after a couple seconds, an entire section of the rusted and partially rotted bridge was frozen solid, shining brightly as it reflected the pale silvery moonlight while the monster growled in annoyance. She struggled to open the chamber in order to load another freezing shell, but there was no time when the Pursuer crouched down, and leapt right over the ice, landing so hard on the other side of it that the whole bridge shook… and the frozen part completely shattered behind it.

Shards of ice rained down into the river canyon as a whole section of the already old and neglected bridge simply disappeared, and now without the combined strength of the entire thing to hold itself up, the weight was too much for the part that was bolted into the rock behind where Jill and Carlos were standing. _Screech_! The whole structure now started to tip downward as the old rusted bolts were literally ripped out of their foundations, giving the young woman just enough time to run toward the other side, and leap to safety, with her and Carlos landing on the rocky ground just before the whole bridge, and the Pursuer with it, dropped down from sight.

" _SSTARSS_!" It screamed while falling.

Unfortunately, there was no time to rest when one of the monster's tentacles shot upward from below, wrapping itself around the bridge's foundation while the rest of the bridge was heard crashing down into the river far below. The Pursuer's roar than filled the air as its tentacle began to pull the monster back up toward the cliff where Jill and the young man were desperately trying to figure out how they were going to survive this.


	42. Chapter 42 Water Treatment Plant

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Two: Water Treatment Plant**

From where Carlos was standing, he could see the border of Raccoon City, and the road through the dense forest that lay beyond… but as tempting as it was to simply run around the old water treatment plant and keep going, there was no way that he and Jill would have been able to outrun the Pursuer out on the open road. So while the monster finished pulling itself back up onto the cliff, the two of them ran for the entrance to the closest building.

The treatment plant was actually a series of separate structures that were connected by corners where the neglected areas touched, creating a sprawling labyrinth that actually covered a pretty good size area. Maybe if there had been a truck or something in the parking lot that was visible in the moonlight, the young man might have tried to get away, but for now he was just glad that the partially rusted, metal double doors weren't locked.

 _Screech-slam_! The door's hinges cried out when the two of them shouldered through the darkened entrance, and then echoes were sent throughout the concrete building's interior when they slammed it closed again. Jill pulled the locking bar to give them some more time, but this wasn't exactly the front door of the police department, and after hearing the Pursuer's growling from outside, the young man knew that the two of them only had a few seconds to come up with some kind of a plan.

According to that last remaining Supervisor before his brains had been beaten out, there was a helicopter hidden somewhere in this installation, and that was great news, but as Carlos looked around the dark, warehouse-like interior of this first building, it was starting to look like finding it was going to be pretty difficult. There was power here, and that was truly surprising, but it seemed to only be going to the wall-mounted emergency lights, which cast just enough illumination to see that this place was filled with large machines.

 _Wham! Wham!_ The metal doors shook while the monster could be heard roaring outside, each hit denting the frames inward more and more while the two of them looked for someplace to hide. This big open building was filled with all of the huge machines, ducts, and pipes that were required to operate the plant, although they were all rusted and corroded as it everything there was about two weeks from falling apart on their own. Regardless of the equipment's condition, it provided plenty of cover, so they ran partway across the room and ducked behind a large machine, just before the front doors finally gave up.

 _Crash_! Both doors fell off their hinges, making another echo throughout the room as they clanged and scratched on the bare concrete floor… and then the Pursuer dented it further by stepping over the broken doors as it entered the building. The monster growled and took a moment to look around before beginning its search for Jill, and again Carlos was tempted to simply sneak back out the door and run for it down the road, but he already knew that it would just hunt them down again… so what were they going to do?

"We need to keep moving." The young woman whispered just barely enough to be heard. "We'll find another door, then make a noise in the other direction, and sneak through while it's distracted."

Jill was right that they needed to keep moving, since the Pursuer was slowly walking through the room, checking behind all of the old pipes and machines row by row, while it's slow, thudding footsteps echoed off the concrete walls. Sometimes there was a few seconds for them to move while it was looking the other way, and other times the two of them had to be tightly pressed together, sliding around one side of a giant pipe while the monster walked around the other.

It seemed that this abomination had the ability to track the young woman to her general location, but that it needed to physically see or hear her to pinpoint it. This was good because it allowed them to keep moving to avoid it without being seen, but at the same time the monster was able to stay on their trail no matter where they went, and now the young man understood why it was always able to find her no matter how good a job they had done with losing it.

Eventually they circled around the room far enough to find another door, but it was locked when Carlos tried the handle, and it would no doubt draw the Pursuer right to them if they had to force their way through. A little bit of ground had been gained between them and the monster, but its swaying tentacles could be heard whipping through the air as its heavy footsteps got closer.

"We're gonna have to split up." Jill whispered. "Make a noise on the other side of the room, and then lead that thing outside; it will ignore you once it realizes I'm not there, but give me at least a few minutes to pick the lock, and then we'll each search for the helicopter."

He didn't like her plan, since the thought of leaving the young woman alone in this place was less than pleasant, but as long as the Pursuer knew where she was, there would never be enough time to find the helicopter and escape before dawn. This would at least give them a little time, and Jill had the grenade launcher for when if found her again, so Carlos took off, still moving quietly across the room, but making a deliberate sound every now and then in an attempt to throw the monster off track.

" _Sstarss_." It growled, changing direction to follow him just a few steps before it would have seen her.

Great, now the monster was following him, but after every few steps it would stop and start to look back as if unsure of which way it should be going. Another deliberate noise from hitting something metal with the stock of his rifle was enough to keep it moving away from its intended target, and now the Pursuer was on Carlos's trail as he led it back over toward the broken door while the young woman finished picking the lock on her door.

A few steps later the young man was back outside, still making enough noises, between walking on the door and hitting the wall, to keep the monster's attention as he went around the corner, trying to keep it from actually seeing him. _Thud… thud… thud_ , its heavy footsteps were heard moving over the broken door, so he picked up the pace, hugging the wall as he kept leading it all the way around to the other side of the building, where the plant's old parking lot and the road leading off into the forest could be seen.

If not for Jill, Carlos probably would have taken his chances on that road, especially after looking back and seeing the lights of Raccoon City behind him. Was there enough time to get far enough away on foot to avoid the blast? Sure, since it only took a few minutes to run a mile once he got going, but there was no way he was going to leave her behind. No, he had to keep the monster distracted for as long as possible, so the young man made another noise, walking backwards so that he could see if the Pursuer was catching up, it was just now entering his mind that he could no longer hear its thudding footsteps… when he backed up into something _big_.

At first the young man thought that it was a wall, but concrete buildings weren't warm, nor did they growl when bumped into, so Carlos jumped forward, turning around and raising his rifle, only to gasp as he came face to face with the Pursuer. How was this possible? Had the monster realized his trick, and then gone around the other side of the building in order to get behind him? Was it really that smart? Whatever the case, the monster was now right in front of him, turning its deformed head left and right, probably looking for Jill… but then focusing back on _him_ when it realized that she wasn't there.

" _Sstarss_." It growled, its tentacles twitching while its huge hands balled up into fists.

"Uh… she went _that_ way!" The young man yelled, pointing toward the road. "Jill went running into the forest; you can catch her if you hurry! _Correr! Si, rapido! Rapido!_ "

The Pursuer turned toward the road and took a step forward, but then stopped like it had done inside the building when it was unsure where to go. It then growled angrily while turning back around, only to grunt in surprise when Carlos shined his rifle's powerful flashlight right into its eyes. _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! Now pulling the trigger, and peppering the monster's body with the weapon's small bullets, the young man knew that he had no hope of killing the beast by himself… but maybe he could keep its interest for a while longer.

Jill might have been a better leader and had more experience, but Carlos was stronger and faster than she was, so it was better to have the Pursuer coming after him for as long as possible… right? Probably not, but he continued to fire the rifle, quickly backing away while the monster slowly marched toward him, all the while still looking around as if it expected to find the young woman somewhere around, and getting visibly frustrated when this didn't happen.

"Forget about Jill, you _puto_!" The young man yelled, struggling to reload his rifle after it clicked empty. "I'll never let you find her, not in a million years!"

Angry to the point of roaring, the Pursuer threw its head back and charged at him full speed while Carlos started shooting, but then something strange happened. The monster was right on top of him, raising up its fists to surely crush him in a single blow, when it just… stopped. Looking down at him and glaring while the bullets continued to strike its body, the Pursuer suddenly dropped down to its knees, and then fell face first onto the ground… before all movement stopped completely.

The young man was also motionless for a second, wondering to himself if that was it… if he had won? _Rat-a-tat_! Firing a couple shots into the monster's back, and then kicking it a couple times just to make sure, Carlos couldn't help smiling as he realized that the Pursuer had finally been defeated. He had to go tell Jill! This was the best thing that could have ever happened, so after stomping on the monster's body while heading back the way he came, the young man ran excitedly back around the building, and over to the now unlocked door that she had been working on.

Jill must have been successful, since the latched turned easily, allowing him to pull the door open… but then he froze when he heard a familiar growling sound. Carlos's mouth ran dry as he turned back toward the entrance, to see the completely unharmed Pursuer standing in the broken doorway, but as the monster started walking toward him, its growls no longer sounded angry… in fact they sounded… smug? And was… and was the fucking thing _smiling_ now?

An awful thought now crossed Carlos's mind, an impossible thought that the monster had perhaps… _played dead_ in order to trick him into showing it where Jill had gone? _Wham!_ Before he knew it, the Pursuer was standing right in front of him again, but this time it swung its massive arm, sending the young man flying backwards when it connected across his face, causing him to slam into some pipes, before crashing hard to the concrete floor while the monster entered the doorway in search of Jill.


	43. Chapter 43 Waste Disposal

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Three: Waste Disposal**

With Carlos leading the Pursuer back toward the broken doors of the old water treatment plant, it only took Jill a moment to pick the lock on the door and get herself through, at least after her heart stopped racing and she was able to calm down enough to hold her hands steady enough to use the tools. After all, the monster had been literally two steps away from being able to see her from where it was standing, so if the young man hadn't distracted it when he did…

Best not to think about that, she decided after passing through the now unlocked door, and quietly pushing it shut again behind her. And Carlos would be fine once the Pursuer saw that the young woman wasn't with him… at least, as long as he didn't do anything stupid like attacking it… good thing he was smarter than that. Anyhow, the distraction was giving her time to search for the helicopter that the last surviving Supervisor had told them about, so she clicked on her rifle's flashlight, using it to see that there was a downward grated-metal staircase that was in front of her.

A broken lightbulb was set inside the single open-cage fixture mounted on the wall, but the flashlight's beam was more than enough for the young woman to see any possible threats as her feet made a hollow _tink-tink-tink_ sound while descending. There were no visible threats, thankfully, but all that awaited her at the bottom of the stairs was another metal door. There was no audible shambling or clicking claws that could be heard when she put her ear up against the metal surface, but there was a curious kind of… bubbling?

Turning the latch and discovering that this one was unlocked, Jill pulled open the door just enough so that she could peek into the room beyond, but immediately had to pull back when there was a sudden burning sensation in her eyes, while at the same time it felt like someone had put _smelling salts_ underneath her nose. Coughing and falling back onto the stairs, the young woman's eyes were watering really badly, and her nose was running as if she had been exposed to Tear Gas, but the feeling started to go away as soon as she backed off from the door… and now the bubbling sound was getting louder.

"Oh, God… ugh." She coughed, spitting out a bunch of mucus from her now sore throat. "Oh… ugh…

Once the coughing stopped, and she was able to rub most of the water from her eyes, the young woman looked up to see that there were visible fumes flowing into the air from behind the partially open door. They had no color, just kind of distorted like heat on a hot road, and the good news was that they were traveling upward, flowing up the stairs instead of simply filling the area where she was… so, was it possible to get through the next room if she stayed low enough?

It was either that or go back upstairs and risk being spotted by the Pursuer, so Jill got onto her hands and knees, before crawling back over to the door, and slowly pushing it open. Unlike what she had seen of the complex so far, the room beyond the door was illuminated by a series of those same open-cage fixtures running along the walls… walls which were covered by a dark green moldy substance, probably from years of neglect. There was also _a lot_ more fumes in this place, filling the top half of the room, with a small trail heading out the open door… and all of it coming from some kind of… water tank?

The fumes stayed above her head, so long as the young woman stayed down on her hands and knees, which was painful because of all the partially rusted grated-metal, allowing her to see that the water tank was the dominant feature of the room, which was actually a vast, open chamber. Long forgotten machines and monitoring equipment were lined up along the edge of the room's only walkway, creating a kind of improvised safety barrier to keep people from falling into the liquid… which was definitely _not_ water, when she got a closer look.

"What the hell _is_ all this?" She whispered to herself, looking around.

As long and wide as an Olympic size swimming pool, but only maybe seven or eight feet deep, the hissing, bubbling substance had a slight purple color to it, and there was something inside… no _lots_ of somethings inside, making the young woman gasp when she realized what it was. _Bodies_ … there were human bodies sunk down into the bottom of the pool as if someone had just decided to dump dozens of infected people there for some reason and… hey, wait a second… after taking a closer look at one of the few bodies that hadn't sunk down yet, Jill noticed that this one didn't _look_ infected.

It was hard to see clearly while looking into the purple liquid, but the young woman was starting to believe that the people in the tank weren't infected at all, so why… suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a sound that was clearly the groan of a zombie, but it was coming from… upward? Looking up above the tank, she saw that the wall next to it was actually a large, grooved metal ramp, rusted and neglected like everything else, and above that was some kind of… grated metal platform… hard to see through the fumes.

Seeing got easier though when the infected man groaned again, this time while falling from the platform above… and then sliding down the grooved ramp right into the purple substance with a loud _splash_. Groaning and snarling as it tried awkwardly to stay afloat, Jill found herself staring wide-eyed at the monster as the parts of it that were submerged in the fluid literally started to melt away. Its clothes were untouched, but after its skin had evaporated, the muscle tissue and blood started falling off the bones like really well done ribs… yeah… never eating ribs again.

As more and more of the infected man sank into the purple liquid, its body was simply dissolved until there was nothing left, not even the bones, so… did that mean that this stuff in the tank specifically attacked tissue that was infected by the T-Virus? If so, great, but… why was it hidden in the back of a disused water treatment plant, and… why were there so many uninfected bodies inside? There were so _many_ , as if this place had been used as a kind of dumping ground, but for what purpose? Clearly it belonged to Umbrella, especially if their Supervisors' escape helicopter was located there, but then again maybe the young woman didn't really _want_ to know the facility's true purpose.

There was another door at the other end of the walkway, so Jill remained on her hands and knees while crawling all the way across the room, with her knees thanking her after she was finally able to stand back up once through. It seemed that this whole section of the water treatment plant was both unlocked and fully powered as if Umbrella had never expected anyone who wasn't supposed to be there to get that far… a security oversight that suited the young woman just fine as she closed the metal door again behind her to keep out the fumes, and got to her feet.

Another staircase was in front of her now, this time fully illuminated and going upward away from the… what should she call it, _waste disposal room_? It also went up a lot higher than the other one had taken her down, meaning that she had probably gone from the basement all the way up to the second floor of the facility by the time she had reached the top of the grated metal stairs. There was only a single door at the top, but unfortunately with as many separate buildings as there were to the plant, there was no way of knowing whether or not she was even going the right way to find the escape helicopter.

Of course, there was only one way to find out, so she turned the latch and pushed the door open, only to feel as if she had magically been transported to an entirely different facility. There was no mold, pipes, or processing equipment, and instead of the open-cage light fixtures, there were a series of long tubular florescent lights that clearly illuminated the equipment along the walls that was _far_ more sophisticated than what she had seen down in the waste disposal room.

Darkened monitors and computers that almost looked brand new, metal light fixtures that weren't the slightest bit rusted, and the long open-bay window all made this area look more like an airport control tower than a water treatment plant or… wait a minute… airport control tower? Could it be? Rushing all the way into the room, and leaning over some of the monitors in order to look out the window, Jill was able to see that there was a huge open clearing that was completely surrounded by the different buildings that made up the facility… and the young woman's heart skipped a beat when she saw that there was a _helicopter_ sitting in the very center of it, just waiting for…

 _Whack_! Her vision went white for a second as something struck her in the back of the head, making her fall onto the console. _Whack_! Another blow across the side of her head when she tried to turn around and see what was there. _Bang_! There was a flash of light and noise that filled the tower, followed by the young woman letting out an agonized scream when a bullet slammed into the back of her leg, passing all the way through, and then chipping the concrete floor below while she had to hug the consoles to keep from collapsing onto the floor.

"I believe this belongs to _me_ , you fucking thief." Nikolai said, pressing the barrel of his pistol into the back of Jill's neck while forcibly taking the rifle away from her. "I am, however, impressed that you are still alive… I see now why Umbrella put such big price on you… you are hard to kill, like cockroach, da?"

Oh God, the pain in her leg was excruciating… stupid, stupid, stupid, for not checking around the room before just barging in… the Lieutenant must have been behind the door or something. After slinging the rifle over his shoulder, Nikolai grabbed the wounded part of the young woman's leg, and squeezed, making her scream even louder as more of her blood flowed out onto the floor. He kept the pistol pressed into her neck, using his body to keep her pinned down on the console so that she couldn't move, not with only one usable leg, and her screams continued as he just kept _squeezing_ her wound.

"I _love_ how you _scream_ , Jill Valentine!" He yelled over her, making her even louder when he changed his grip so that his thumb was digging into the bullet hole itself. "Dawn approaches, but there is _plenty_ of time to make you pay for humiliating me in press building! Turn around, you fucking _suka_!"

The good news was that he had to let go of her leg in order to grab her by the hair and force her to turn around to face him, and although the young woman was relieved to have a break from her suffering, her eyes went wide when she saw, not the angry and psychotic face of Nikolai… but the terrifying figure standing _behind_ him. Only now that her screaming had stopped, could the _thud-thud-thud_ of its approaching footsteps be heard as it stepped through the open door into the control tower… and the Lieutenant's eyes got just as wide as hers when he realized what was going on.

" _Sstarss_." The Pursuer growled, its white eye narrowing when it made eye contact with her.


	44. Chapter 44 Counter Attack

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Four: Counter Attack**

Before she even had a chance to react to the Pursuer's sudden presence, Nikolai shoved her so that she fell back against the control panel, while he spun around to face the monster. It looked like the Lieutenant was trying to get out of its way, but apparently the monster was just as fed up with the Russian's bullshit as she was, because one of its massive hands grabbed him by the front of the shirt before he could do anything else.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Effortlessly lifting Nikolai into the air and pulling him closer, the Lieutenant flew into a panic, screaming in terror while pressing the barrel of his pistol into the Pursuer's head and pulling the trigger until it was empty. As soon as the weapon went click, the monster growled while putting its free hand around both the pistol and Nikolai's hands… before squeezing so hard that Jill could hear the bones in the Russian man's hands popping while his weapon was crushed along with his fingers.

Now flailing around while desperately kicking at the monster, the Lieutenant's screams and struggles were soon silences when one of the Pursuer's tentacles pointed itself at Nikolai's open mouth… before quickly stabbing forward. The Russian man made some gurgling noises as the tentacle shot right into his mouth before plowing its way out the back of his skull, and he convulsed… at least until the monster discarded him after the tentacle retracted.

" _Sstarss_!" It roared while turning back toward where its main target had been standing.

As for Jill, she had run away the moment Nikolai let go of her, and by run, she meant limping away as quickly as she could with a bullet wound in her leg… which wasn't very fast at all. There had been another door at the far end of the control tower, so the young woman hobbled her way over to it while the Pursuer took its time with the Lieutenant, and rushed through without knowing what dangers could have been waiting on the other side.

Thankfully, this whole section of the treatment plant had apparently been cleared out by the Supervisors, since all the lights were on, and the only infected people she saw were lying on the floor with bullet holes in their heads, so no danger there, at least. A small trail of blood was left behind as Jill leaned against the wall for support, grabbing onto anything she could get her hand on to keep herself from falling down, and crying out in pain with each step. This part of the facility was like a labyrinth, again feeling like she had walked into a totally different place after being surrounded by pipes and machines like the area where she and Carlos had first entered.

 _Thud… thud… thud…_

Having finished amusing itself with Nikolai, the Pursuer was hunting her again, so the young woman bit her lip as she kept moving, trying her best to keep quiet even though the pain in her leg was unbearable. Jill had been in some pretty horrific situations before, and taken several hits, but this was the first time that she had ever been shot, and it was… different than she imagined. Instead of just pain, there had first been a feeling of intense pressure, followed by a burning sensation when the bullet passed through, and finally a dull throb that just didn't stop.

Needless to say, it had become very difficult to escape by running, so the young woman resorted to sneaking her way around the different pipes and machines when the monster entered the room, just like she and Carlos had done before… although it was far more difficult to stay hidden with the lights on. She still had the grenade launcher as well, with a few nitrogen shells left on the ammo belt, but nothing was loaded, and the last thing Jill needed was for the Pursuer to come charging toward her if it heard her opening the weapon's chamber.

Growling and groaning, its tentacles slowly twitching as they moved around in the air, the monster was once again tracking her down, so she couldn't rest, not even for a second, but the strange part was that every time she caught a glimpse of the Pursuer, it wasn't looking around the room for her, but instead had its head angled downward. For an instant this confused her, but then the young woman nearly gasped after realizing that the monster was smart enough to follow the blood trail that she was leaving.

There was too much of the red substance running down her leg and onto the concrete floor, for her to stop it, and now unlike before where she had been able to avoid the Pursuer simply by staying out of sight, her own blood was going to lead it right to her. Hobbling and stumbling around another machine while holding onto it to keep from losing her balance, the young woman made a mad, limping dash for the first door that she saw, pushing it open and then quietly closing it behind her… only to have her eyes start watering while a burning sensation came from each breath.

Again, the format of the old water treatment plant's construction changed dramatically, with the floor of this chamber being made of grated metal… and barely visible fumes rising up from the pool of purplish fluid that sat far below. Suddenly it dawned on her, Jill had made a complete circle while heading upward, bringing her all the way around to the area where she had seen the zombie fall from… right above the waste disposal room. The grated floor ended about halfway across, dooming anything that fell over to the harsh fate of sliding down the grooved ramp into the pool… but there was no other way out, and she didn't fancy jumping.

"Oh, shit." The young woman whispered to herself. "I'm trapped."

It was only a matter of time before the Pursuer caught up to her, so for a second she considered simply jumping down into the pool, since it didn't hurt non-infected cells… but then again she _had_ been infected by the T-Virus, and… and there was no way of knowing whether or not the vaccine was enough to make her survive a fall into that stuff. Of course… _her_ falling in wasn't the only option. Taking a page from Nikolai's book, a plan started to form in the young woman's mind as she limped her way back so that she would be behind the door… and then she very loudly opened the grenade launcher's chamber to load it.

" _Sstarss_!" The monster was heard yelling almost immediately.

As expected, it roared almost excitedly, before its thundering footsteps were heard getting closer, until the Pursuer nearly knocked the door off its hinges as it entered. Taking several steps toward the end of the grated floor before it could stop itself, the monster's stance told her that it realized that she wasn't in front of it… but not fast enough to stop her from closing the weapon's chamber and taking aim.

 _Fwoosh-boom_! The nitrogen shell exploded in a flash of freezing, blue mist, making the monster roar in agony as most of its back was coated with ice, but what Jill hadn't expected was for several of its swishing, twitching tentacles to simply… fall off. Their bases had been caught in the frozen blast, and now the monster was howling as they fell to the floor as if someone had cut them off with a sword… but now the ice was breaking, and the Pursuer's growl's did not sound very happy as it slowly got back to its feet.

 _Fwoosh-boom_! If the monster managed to start moving again, the young woman was finished since she couldn't exactly dive out of the way, so she pulled another shell out of the ammo belt and loaded it as fast as she could before firing. This time the Pursuer was ready, raising its arm and smacking the shell away to avoid a direct hit, so that only its right arm was frozen this time. _Fwoosh-boom_! Again it tried to block the grenade, and was successful, but unfortunately for the monster, its arm had still been partially frozen when the next one it… causing its entire limb to shatter completely.

" _Ssstttaaarrrsss_!" It howled, forced to take a step backwards in reaction to the loss it its arm.

 _Fwoosh-boom_! Jill nearly dropped the shell this time, fumbling with shaky hands, and trying to keep her balance with one good leg while reloading the weapon, but this time she managed to score another direct hit to the Pursuer's torso. Most of its body was coated with ice this time, causing all of the old wounds from bullets and everything else to rip open when it shattered. _Fwoosh-boom_! Just when it was starting to stand up again, Jill loaded another nitrogen shell, and pulled the trigger, but her aim was a little high.

The freezing shell exploded right in the monster's face this time, cutting off its angry roar when the whole top half of its body vanished in the blue mist, but then this cold cloud faded, and the young woman understood why the beast was suddenly silent. Like every other time, the ice had formed and then shattered, but this time the Pursuer's entire _head_ had been taken off from the repeated hits… so why was it still standing? There was one grenade left on the ammo belt, and the Pursuer was just about at the edge of the floor, so Jill quickly reloaded, only to gasp when the monster's only remaining tentacle shot out to smack the weapon from her hands.

Losing her balance from the shock, she hit the floor at the same time that the weapon did, but it had landed out of her reach, and now the STARS hunting beast was starting to stumble toward her… although clearly disoriented after the loss of its arm and head. At first it started to stumble the wrong way, but corrected itself after Jill made noise while crawling toward the grenade launcher, so it started walking toward her more quickly, and… and there was no way for her to reach the weapon before it got to her.

 _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! Suddenly the room was filled with light and noise as someone rushed into the room, and it took the young woman a second to look up and be able to see that it was Carlos. He had a rifle in each hand, using the slings over his shoulders to keep them aimed properly while he emptied both clips into the monster's heavily damaged body. Unlike before, when the Pursuer simply walked right through such an attack, the remains of its body was stumbling backwards toward the edge of the grated floor, and… was it possible that the fumes from the purple liquid below had been attacking the monster's infected cells this whole time?

As heroic and completely badass as the young man's attack on the beast was, the bad news was that he ran out of ammo before being able to drive the monster over the edge… and it was _still_ standing. _Fwoosh-boom_! The good news, however, was that Carlos had given Jill enough time to reach the grenade launcher, and once it was in her hands she aimed and fired… not at the monster, but at the grated floor that it was standing on.

Like with the bridge, the ground simply fell out from underneath it when its weight was too much for the frozen metal, and without its head, the Pursuer was oddly silent as it hit the grooved ramp below, rolling and bouncing all the way down until it fell into the purple liquid with a loud _splash_. Like a large rock, its body quickly sank toward the bottom while hundreds of bubbles came to the surface from the monster's infected cells being attacked, but there was no time to enjoy this victory.

She and Carlos still had to find a way to reach that helicopter and get out of the city, because even though the Pursuer had been stopped, most likely for good this time… the missile was still set to be launched at dawn.


	45. Chapter 45 D Class Emergency

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Five: D Class Emergency**

While the remains of the Pursuer sank to the bottom of the waste disposal tank below, Carlos was now focused on getting himself and Jill out of the city before the nuclear missile was launched at dawn… and dawn was not very far off. The first step of this was to take care of the young woman's leg, at least as best as he could, given the situation, which meant helping her walk all the way back to the control tower in order to get the first aid box that he had seen hanging on the wall.

With the supplies inside, as well as the bandages left inside Nikolai's pouch, he was able to clean and wrap her wounded leg, at least enough to stop the bleeding. The young man knew damn well what an absolute prick the Lieutenant had been, but he still couldn't believe he went as far as shooting Jill just so that… well, he was glad that Nikolai was dead, so as far as he was concerned, the matter was settled. Using the last of the morphine to dull her pain, Carlos found a long segment of metal pipe with a curved joint on the end that the young woman could use for a makeshift crutch, and now they were ready to go.

"Okay, so how do we get from _up here_ to _down there_?" He asked, pointing out the window at the waiting helicopter. "I haven't seen any rope around, and there's no ladder or stairs, so… what do you think?"

"Maybe we can only get there through another building." Jill suggested, leaning to look out the window at the surrounding facility. "Let's try going back outside."

Neither one of them wanted to backtrack all the way through this place, especially when the young man saw how hard it was for her to walk. Fucking Nikolai, he found himself thinking again as he helped the young woman walk back the way they came, piece of shit really got what he deserved, and as horrible as it was to see the Lieutenant's face just decimated while his body had been left lying in a twisted, unnatural position… Carlos couldn't help but smile a little.

He had to hold onto Jill tightly to keep her from falling down the stairs, and then he just decided to carry her so that they could get through the fumes of the waste disposal room more quickly… although he did stop long enough for the two of them to look down into the purplish liquid where bubbles were still rising from where the Pursuer had sunk to the bottom after falling in. Man, he was glad to see a weapon that actually _worked_ against that monster, since after everything that it had just walked through, the young man had actually started to believe that it was invincible… heh, didn't look so invincible _now_ , though.

Making their way back up the stairs that followed, Carlos helped Jill move around the machines and pipes that were between them and the broken front door of the old treatment plant, but as soon as they were back in the open night air, he wasn't sure what to do. Simply heading down Ivy Street into the forest was out of the question, since the young woman could no longer move fast enough for them to get away before Raccoon City was destroyed, and there were several buildings that made up the treatment plant as a whole, so which one should they choose?

Dawn was fast approaching, meaning that there was no time to try out each facility, so he helped her move around the outside of the plant until finding a door that they both liked, which happened to be at the front of a large square building. From the outside it looked kind of like a warehouse, and hopefully it would be just as wide open and empty as one, too, since if it didn't have a back door to the landing pad, they needed to know as quickly as possible.

The door was locked, and Carlos had to help Jill lean down far enough for her to be able to pick it, but with the time before the launch quickly ticking away, it felt like everything the two of them were doing was taking forever. The young man almost wished that there could have been an alarm or a countdown or something so that he would know just how much time was left before everything was destroyed, because without the prior knowledge that the missile was coming, tonight would have felt like any other night in Raccoon City.

 _Click_ , the lock popped open, allowing the two of them to pull open one of the heavy double doors before rushing inside, and… and what the hell happened in here? The building was definitely laid out like a large storage warehouse, with huge metal crates stacked up in rows of three, while the old incandescent light fixtures didn't cast nearly as much illumination as they should have… although it was enough for them to see all of the bodies.

Zombies, those red and green beasts that he had seen in the hospital, and even a few _big_ things that Carlos had never encountered before were spread out across the floor, riddled with bullet holes and burn marks… and among them were armed men in uniforms with weapons, covered in teeth marks and deep slashes from claws. The armed men weren't wearing UBCS uniforms though, more like a camouflage pattern than standard olive drab, and the letters US were stenciled on some of their equipment. Were these guys from the US Army, then?

The young man knew that the American National Guard was securing the borders of the city to keep the situation from spreading, but he hadn't expected to see any of them within its limits, so what were all these guys doing there? Had they somehow known that this plant was an Umbrella facility, and tried to take it? Must have walked right into a whole nest of zombies and those clawed monsters, but… but there was one monster that looked different than all the others… it was mostly human looking except for the discolored bronze skin and bald head… and the _massive_ claws at the end of its hands.

It was almost as big and imposing as the Pursuer, and thankfully it was dead; just kind of slumped against the wall right below a large impact mark, as if it had been thrown backwards and then just collapsed where it fell. The gigantic hole in its chest explained the cause of death, but now Carlos couldn't help wondering what kind of weapon could do that to such a creature… until he found the answer after looking back in the direction that the shot had come from.

A clear path had been made between it and the other end of the warehouse, with the edges around what remained of the metal crates twisted and burned like a missile had come flying through, so he and Jill followed the path of destruction all the way to the other end of the building, where they discovered two very important things. The first one was a metal door that must have led out to the landing pad based on where it was located on the wall… and the other was a huge machine that almost looked like some kind of… maybe a… uh… maybe a cannon out of a science fiction movie.

It was bigger than the shipping crates, with a huge barrel sticking out of one end, and a mess of cables and wires coming out of the other, as if this weapon was meant to be mounted on a truck or something, and these soldiers had decided to try setting it up inside this room for some reason… probably for shooting that big thing over there. Looks like the weapon worked, but it wasn't enough to stop the entire unit from being massacred… then again, the monsters didn't exactly win either, so these Army guys did a hell of a lot better than the UBCS when they first landed.

"This would have been nice to have earlier, huh?" Jill commented, scoffing as she looked at it for a second. "Come on, we gotta get to the helicopter."

She was right of course, so the two of them walked over to the back door, where he pulled on the latch, only to discover that it was locked. This was no big deal, since the young woman still had her lock-picking set, but unfortunately there was no keyhole. No keyhole, no locking bolt, no nothing… just an electronic control panel that looked kind of like a card reader… except the card reader had been ripped off, replaced with a series of wires and cables that plugged right into the building's power supply and ran right over to the cannon… but why would someone do such a thing?

Carlos wasn't exactly an electrical engineer, nor was Jill by the way they both started pulling on the door in frustration, meaning that without being able to use and somehow bypass this card reader, there was no way for them to get through the door. No windows around the warehouse, either, and the walls were concrete, so there was no way to break through… nor was there any time for them to go back outside and hope to find another access point to the landing pad.

"So… what… did they use the building's power to make the cannon work?" The young man asked, looking over at the weapon. "Now, I'm no _electrista_ , but it doesn't seem like a warehouse like this would be able to supply that much… I mean, the lights are _barely_ on in here."

"Not for the cannon, no." Jill replied, following the cables a little more closely. "But maybe for its _control unit_ , do you think?"

It was worth a shot, so the two of them traced the cables from where the card reader was, all the way over to the giant weapon, where they found, as she thought, that they were plugged into a kind of control station that was sitting right _next to_ the weapon. From this, she deduced that the controls had simply replaced the card reader, but since it was probably still connected to the door's electronic lock, maybe it just needed the right stimulus in order for the door to open… but what was it?

Simply turning the device on seemed to be the logical way to start, so Carlos pressed the power button, and then jumped a little when there was a hard _click_ that echoed throughout the room, followed by the crackle of electricity as the indicator lights, both on the controls _and_ the cannon began to light up. A sharp _beep_ also came from back over at the door to the landing pad, giving the young man even more hope when a red light appeared above the socket where the card reader was once mounted. Great, the lock was at least active now, although the sound of something slowly building up power kind of disturbed him as the lights on the cannon got brighter, so…

 _Crash! Bam! Whump!_ His thoughts were interrupted by the next sound that echoed through the warehouse; pieces of metal and roof materials falling down to the floor from above when something broke its way through. Falling down from the ceiling and landing hard onto the concrete floor, at first Carlos didn't understand what he was looking at… the whole thing was scarred and deformed, consisting of a large arm that was covered in what looked like burn marks, and… and for a moment the whole thing looked like a dismembered torso, if not for the… holy shit, was that a _mouth_ attached to the stomach where the legs were supposed to be?

Yeah, there was a kind of… insectoid looking set of mandibles underneath the torso's stomach, but the scars and burn patterns on this… abomination looked familiar, but no… that was impossible… how could the Pursuer still be able to function in that condition? How had it gotten out of that tank of purple stuff? How had it found them without a head? The answer to all this came when the monster plunged its mandibles into the body of the largest monster in the room, looking like it was trying to… _feed_ off it?

And then it started to get bigger.


	46. Chapter 46 I'll give you STARS

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Six: I'll give you STARS**

Jill had known that the strange deformity that tore its way through the ceiling was what remained of the Pursuer from the moment she saw it, but just as she was trying to decide what to do about the barely mobile creature, it managed to surprise the young woman yet again. Stabbing the mandibles of its insectoid… torso-mouth into the dead monster that kind of reminded her of Wesker's Tyrant project, there was a kind of hissing sound as the thing started to get bigger.

With its body bubbling and twitching as new limbs started to grow out of the old sockets, the Pursuer continued to feed on the dead monster even when Jill raised her rifle and started to shoot at it. _Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta_! There were no more nitrogen shells for the grenade launcher, but still plenty of ammo for the rifles, so she and Carlos lit up the warehouse with light and noise, peppering the monster's growing body as the small bullets tore into its flesh… but it just kept getting bigger.

At first the young woman thought that it was regenerating itself to the way it had been before, but as its new limbs took on a more clawed, monstrous appearance, she realized that the old Pursuer was gone, replaced with this thing that looked like… she didn't even know. With four limbs, each with deadly claws at the end, a dozen long purple tentacles coming out of all parts of its new body, this new version of the STARS hunting monster was more like a giant insect than another Tyrant, especially when it slowly flipped over onto its back to face toward her.

No, wait… now that it had flipped over, the whole thing looked like it was _now_ standing upright, and there were some kind of… transparent bubbles on the top of its body that looked like they were filled with some kind of fluid. The bubbles popped from being hit with their bullets, some fumes were released as the liquid poured down over the monster's body, not doing anything to the creature itself, but sizzling and eating right through the warehouse's concrete floor as if it were concentrated acid.

The bullets had done nothing at all to the Pursuer by the time she and Carlos were out of ammo, so they reloaded in order to keep fighting as the beast took that first hulking step toward them, but she knew when its roar shook the walls that this was not a battle they could win without those freezing grenades. So she turned to start looking for another way for the two of them to escape, when her eyes fell on the slowly charging cannon… you know… the one that could _kill_ Tyrant creatures.

She didn't completely understand all of the features of the control panel, but Jill could see enough to understand where the charge meter was, as well as what was clearly the weapon's trigger, so maybe… maybe as long as they could stay away from it long enough for this crazy weapon to charge up… but how could they do that with her leg the way it was? The good news was that the creature was slow moving, but its tentacles were denting and crushing everything that came within range, so Carlos had to pick the young woman up into his arms in order to get them out of the way just as it took another step forward.

"We need to keep it busy until that cannon thing charges." Jill said as he carried her down on of the warehouse's rows. "If it can kill a Tyrant, then maybe it can kill that _monster_ , too."

"God, I hope so." Carlos replied, using his free hand to fire a few shots with his pistol, keeping the creature interested in them alone. "The sun's gonna come up in less than an hour."

The monster roared again as its giant body turned to follow their movement, and thankfully its slashing tentacles just barely missed the weapon's control unit, and to keep making sure that it stayed far away from it, the young man turned suddenly down the path that had been made from the last time it was fired. Since the Pursuer was so slow now, it was Jill's hope that he could simply keep it running around in circles until the cannon was fully charged, but now the rumbling and crackling from the weapon was so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear anything else… and she didn't see the Pursuer when she turned her head to look back.

"Oh, shit!" Carlos screamed, nearly dropping her when he came to a screeching halt.

Turning her head forward, and having to hold onto him tightly to keep from falling onto the floor, the young woman gasped when the monster appeared in front of them just as they reached the end of the firing line. It must have anticipated what they were trying to do, and circled back to cut them off… for not having a real head, this thing was still so clever… and then one of its tentacles shot out.

Dropping Jill as the long purple appendage went right toward him, Carlos cried out when it wrapped around his waist, and lifting him up into the air. _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ The young woman's rifle was empty, so she took out her pistol, and started shooting at the bases of the creature's tentacles, scoring one hit on a different one, but mostly just hitting more of those acid bubbles on its back. Her pistol clicked empty just as the Pursuer tossed the young man away, making Carlos scream as he flew through the air, bouncing off the top of one of the containers, and then vanishing when he fell over the other side… and then it turned its attention back to her.

She had no more bullets, so Jill dropped it next to the empty rifle, and started frantically trying to crawl away. Since she wasn't actually walking, the young woman was able to keep up a decent pace by making her arms do most of the work while her bad leg just dragged behind, but she didn't dare stop even for a second, since the Pursuer's whipping tentacles were right behind her, cracking and splintering the concrete floor with each hit.

When the monster tried to follow her down the firing line, it got stuck for a second, allowing her to gain some ground, but then it simply leaned to the side, and shoved the metal crate so that it made a metallic _screech_ while it was slowly moved out of the way. It was hard to remain calm as she crawled over the rough, uneven terrain of the firing line; just inches away from panic, and tears starting to run down her face when she thought one of the tentacles bushed across the sole of her boot.

 _Screech_ … _screech_ … each time the Pursuer got stuck by another crate, the young woman was able to get a little farther away, only to have the distance closed quickly because of how large the steps were of the monster's new body. Worse yet, Jill's arms were getting tired, making it harder and harder to keep going, until the time that it took the monster to move each new crate was all that was keeping it from getting her. The warehouse was now shaking from the rumbling and crackling coming from the cannon as it powered up, but there was still such a long way to crawl before reaching the end of the firing line when she looked toward it.

Crackling blue electricity was now flowing up and down the cannon's frame, but Jill hadn't expected to see Carlos standing at the control unit. He was frantically waving at her, gesturing wildly for her to get out of the way, and screaming his head off, even though she couldn't hear him over all of the other sounds inside the building. There was no way for her to reach the end of the path, and the young woman's arms were just about to give out, but… but there was a tiny space between two nearby metal crates, so she rolled over toward it, and then crawled into the small space just as the Pursuer's face reached where it could see it.

 _BOOM_! Suddenly everything went white, a brilliant flash of electrical heat making her hair stand on end as the cannon fired, and she had to cover her eyes while the monster was engulfed. It was a direct hit, sending the Pursuer's limbs flying off in different directions as the main body was tossed up into the air, and the sound of it crashing hard to the floor was the last sound for a while as the cannon powered down.

The massive weapon hissed and popped as heated steam was vented out, and as for the monster, it was motionless while slowly shrinking back down to the size it had been when first entering the warehouse. It was back to being nothing more than a deformed torso with a single arm, but as long as it was dead, the young woman didn't really care what it looked like. _Beep_ , an electronic noise pierced the newfound quiet as the indicator light by the door turned green, so… did that mean the lock was open?

There was another dead body in the cramped space with her, and the dead soldier had a bolt action rifle in his hands… a good enough stand in for a crutch, she felt. Based on the claw mark on his neck, the soldier must have hidden in there to keep himself safe, only to have something reach in and show him otherwise… and hey, the weapon was fully loaded, too. Sticking the barrel into the floor, and leaning heavily on the weapon to help her stand up, Jill was just managing to limp her way out of the small space, when she nearly fell over again when the Pursuer's body twitched.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked, trying to catch her breath as the thing started moving again. "Why the _fuck_ won't you die?!"

 _Bang_! _Click-click_. _Bang_! Aiming the rifle and pulling the trigger, the young woman had to lean back against the metal crate so that she wouldn't fall over while working the bolt back and forth, and this time the monster reacted heavily to each time it was hit. Discolored blood sprayed out each time a bullet tore into its charred flesh, with its partially destroyed mandibles twitching in a gurgled roar that almost sounded… pathetic.

 _Bang_! _Click-click_. _Bang_! More sprayed blood and agonized howls as the next bullets struck their target, but no matter how badly the Pursuer was wounded, it still kept trying to crawl toward her with its one usable arm… until she used one of the bullets to shoot it right in the hand. After everything this abomination had put her through, and all of the good men that it had destroyed in its quest to get her, Jill was no longer content to simply stand back and shoot, instead now slowly limping toward the monster while using the bolt to chamber the rifle's very last round.

"You want _STARS_?" She asked, pressing the barrel right into what was left of its mouth. "I'll _give_ you STARS, you son of a bitch."

 _Bang_! What remained of the Pursuer's mouth was destroyed with that last shot, and now its deformed body was convulsing as it seemed to be… falling apart. More acid and blood dripped out, creating scars across the concrete floor, and then after one last pained howl, the monster stopped moving… and this time it didn't get back up while its body slowly dissolved into nothing before her very eyes.


	47. Chapter 47 My Last Escape

**Nemesis: Resident Evil III**

 **Chapter Forty Seven: My Last Escape**

With the electronic lock on the rear door of the warehouse released, however in the hell that worked, Jill was able to pass through, into the open field in between all of the old water treatment plant's buildings, where the helicopter meant for the Supervisors was waiting. Leaning heavily on Carlos, the two of them moved across the field, with the young woman praying with each painful step that the young man knew how to fly a helicopter, since she sure as hell didn't… and the eastern sky was starting to get brighter with the coming dawn.

Thankfully, after opening the side door and helping her climb into the seat, Carlos went around and got into the pilot's seat. Once the two of them were buckled in, the young man started flipping switches and activating control sets, which Jill took as him knowing what he was doing… yet she still breathed out a long sigh of relief once the rotors started turning overhead. The fuel tanks were full, and all the lights were green across the board, so as soon as the rotors were spinning fast enough, the helicopter left the ground.

"Head down Ivy Street, the way we were going to go on foot." She said, pointing at the road beyond the forgotten parking lot. "Straight over the mountains to put as much stuff between us and the city as… oh, my God."

They just reached the proper altitude for flight, now following the street below as it started winding its way up into the Arklay Mountains, when something in the air caught her eye. It was a black projectile, coming out of the first rays of dawn, and leaving a trail of smoke and fire as it headed right toward Raccoon City. Without even getting a good look at it as it passed only a few hundred or so meters from the helicopter, she knew that it was the missile sent to contain the outbreak, and in response to its presence, Carlos accelerated so that they would not get caught in the blast.

The nose tilted downward as they left Ivy Street behind, now flying over nothing but forests and rocks while the missile detonated over the very center of the city. In a flash of light that was oddly silent at first, the landscape was illuminated just as brightly as if it were high noon, and then a wall of fire began to spread out from the detonation point in all directions. The clock tower, the police station, all buildings caught in the blast radius were swept away like nothing, while vehicles and infected people were first thrown across streets by the initial shockwave, and then vaporized by the wall of fire an instant later.

Having just flew over one of the mountains lower peaks, even the helicopter felt some of the shockwave's wrath, making Carlos temporarily lose control while the high winds knocked down some of the trees below… and righting the vehicle just in time for the two of them to see the gigantic orange and yellow mushroom cloud that now filled the area that had only minutes ago been Raccoon City. There was too much smoke and fire to see clearly when she looked back, but Jill knew as they flew toward safety over the Arklay Mountains, that her home was gone.

A hundred memories now flashed through her mind as she leaned back in the seat, her body finally forcing itself to relax… she remembered being a rookie at the RPD, and all those humiliating undercover assignments working for Tobias Liquid, before getting selected for the new STARS unit. She remembered meeting Chris Redfield, and helping look after his kid sister, Claire. And she remembered when the Cannibal Murders first started, and when STARS had been nearly wiped out at the Spencer Estate last summer.

But now Raccoon City was gone… and all because of Umbrella's greed. That company was going to _pay_ , she thought to herself… they were going to pay long, and they were going to pay hard, for every last man, woman, and child who died because of their experiments. But first, she thought as the need for sleep finally overcame her just as the sun was starting to rise… she was going to get some rest.

 _RACCOON CITY DESTROYED IN NUCLEAR ATTACK_

 _The New York Times Evening Edition, October 2nd, 1998_

 _Early this morning, residents of the communities that surrounded the Midwestern region known as the Arklay Mountains were awakened by an explosion of nuclear fire. The President, acting under advisement from the CDC and Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordered that just before sunrise this morning, a nuclear missile would be launched into the heart of Raccoon City and detonated, effectively passing judgement on all who still inhabited the urban center._

 _In a statement made to the associated press this morning, the President defended this decision, stating that the bizarre outbreak which gripped the city for the past month was a danger to the United States as a whole, and that after all other options for containment had failed, that the Bacillus Terminate operation was the only feasible solution. Thus being executed just a little after 7:00 AM this morning, Raccoon City has been literally wiped off the map._

 _Damage and census data estimates have the death toll exceeding the 100,000 mark, and while more details will be made available as this story develops, our hearts truly go out to the poor civilians of Raccoon City._


End file.
